


Perfectly Matched Outtakes

by HiddenTreasures



Series: Perfectly Matched [6]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Family, Fluff, Romance, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2018-11-06 21:52:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 30,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11045055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTreasures/pseuds/HiddenTreasures
Summary: This is a collection of outtakes from various stories within my Perfectly Matched series.





	1. What does it feel like?

**Author's Note:**

> This outtake comes after the end of [Chapter 17](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7881616/chapters/20501704) of Perfect Match.
> 
> Outtake rating: Teen

“What does it—?”

James glanced up at Rose when she trailed off.

“What?”

“Never mind,” she said, her cheeks slightly pink.

“No, what is it?”

Rose paused for a long moment before saying in a rush, “What’s it like to have an orgasm?”

James blinked up at her

“Forget it,” she mumbled when he’d been silent for well over a minute.

“No, wait, I’m thinking,” he said. He lifted himself and scooted up until his head was on the same pillow as hers. “It’s like… It’s hard to describe… It’s like there’s this pressure deep inside. And it feels really good. And it keeps growing and growing, until you’re not sure if you want it to stop or to never stop. And then it finally releases in increments of extreme pleasure. Like… Ehm… Oh! You know that feeling like when you need to sneeze, but it’s not quite there yet, but you can feel it building in your sinuses and it’s driving you half mad because you just want to sneeze? Then finally you sneeze and it feels so much better. It’s kind of like that. Sort of.”

Rose blinked at him, then burst into giggles.

“Only you would compare an orgasm to a sneeze!” she gasped out amidst her laughter.

James grinned over at her and pressed his lips to her temple.

“Y’know,” he murmured, his voice low and husky, “if you want to know what it feels like, I’m sure we could fix that right now.”


	2. Magic Ink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This outtake comes sometime after the end of [And Baby Makes Three](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10397184/chapters/22958856).
> 
> Outtake rating: All Ages

“Daddy?”

Rose glanced up from her arm, where she was helping James stay entertained as he proctored an exam.

“What’s that, sweetheart?” Rose asked Ainsley.

“Play Daddy?” she asked again, pointing to Rose’s arm.

Rose lifted her toddler onto her lap and pulled her sleeve up to show Ainsley the ink coloring her skin. Ainsley beamed brightly and touched her hands to the words she couldn’t yet read.

“Let’s say hi, shall we?” Rose clicked open her pen, then paused and shuffled Ainsley to her other thigh so she could start fresh with her right arm. “Ainsley says hi,” she wrote.

_Hi darling! How’s your day with Mummy?_

“He said hi,” Rose cooed into her ear, but Ainsley was extremely tickled by the appearance of ink.

“Magic!” she squealed, bouncing happy. “Again!”

Rose smirked and pecked a kiss to Ainsley’s hair before she obliged.

“Your daughter is quite fascinated by the ‘magic’ ink on my arms,” Rose wrote, speaking aloud to encourage Ainsley to learn that written words corresponded to verbal ones.

_Well of course! She’s brilliant and curious and inquisitive._

“Daddy uses such big words, doesn’t he?” Rose said when Ainsley again laughed and touched her fingers to the words on Rose’s arms. “You probably don’t understand him half the time, do you? That’s all right. He loves you more than anything, and you know that, and that’s the important part.”

“Write Daddy,” Ainsley said, turning her head to look at Rose.

But before Rose could poise the pen at her arm, Ainsley whined and shrieked, “No! Write Daddy!”

“I am writing Daddy,” she said patiently. But then she saw the way Ainsley was tapping at her arm, and she asked, “Oh, do _you_ want to write to Daddy?”

Ainsley grinned and said, “Write Daddy!”

“Okay, Ains, let Mummy find you a pen to use.”

Rose stood with her daughter and found a pen that wrote the easiest on skin, but one she and James rarely used because the ink often flowed too thick and caused it to smear on their arms. But it would be perfect for a toddler with minimal coordination.

Ainsley happily took the pen and let Rose help her hold it in her fat little fist, but she squawked when Rose tried to help her make letters.

“No!” she shouted, pulling her hands away from Rose. “Write Daddy!”

Rose chuckled and sat back to watch her daughter try to draw on her arms. Ainsley touched the tip of the pen to Rose’s forearm with more force than necessary, and Rose winced a bit as the tip dug into her skin.

Ainsley babbled to herself as she trailed the tip of the pen all across Rose’s forearms, making random lines and squiggles, and she gasped happily when James replied.

_Are you drawing on Mummy’s arms, Ainsley? It’s_ _beautiful! Well done, darling!_

“Daddy loves it,” Rose enthused, her heart filling with love for her family at how proud Ainsley looked for having drawn something and gotten a response.

_I’m sorry, loves, but the exam is almost over. Got to go. See you in a bit. Love you lots. Bye._

Rose read out the message, and Ainsley pouted and said, “Bye-bye?”

“Yep.” Rose swiped Ainsley’s hair out of her eyes and said, “Daddy has to go to work now. But he had so much fun playing with you. We’ll see him tonight when he gets home.”

Ainsley blinked at her mum, then turned back to the pen in her hand and doodled some more on Rose’s arm, chattering to herself. She then made a mark on her own arm, and watched it expectantly. But after a few seconds when her ink was the only mark still there, she said sadly, “Magic?”

“No magic, yet,” Rose soothed, taking the pen from Ainsley when she saw the sad furrow pinching her brow. “You’re not old enough, sweetheart. But that’s all right. You’re too little to worry about soulmates. Maybe one day, the magic will happen.”

Ainsley huffed out a sigh, and wriggled down off of Rose’s lap, the “magic” seemingly forgotten. As Rose watched Ainsley trot over to the bookcase and pull out the section that was specifically hers, she couldn’t help but feel a pang deep in her chest. She knew soulmates were the best thing in the universe, and she was so, so thankful to have one, but she couldn’t help but feel jealous that there might be another person out there in the world that was specifically made for her daughter, and would know her more completely than she or James ever could.

She managed to shake herself out of her thoughts by the time Ainsley came back with an armful of books and tried to crawl up onto the couch while still holding them.

“How about you give those to me, and then climb up,” Rose suggested, holding her hands out for the books.

When Ainsley’s warm, comforting weight was settled in her lap, Rose had pushed all thoughts of soulmates from her mind. They would cross that bridge eventually, if need be.


	3. Planning for the Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This outtake comes in the middle of [Chapter 12 of Perfect Match](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7881616/chapters/19662361) when James and Rose are celebrating James's 23rd birthday.
> 
> Outtake rating: Teen

“Happy Birthday, James!”

James giggled happily as Rose snapped on one of those pointy cardboard party hats and blew a noisemaker.

“Thanks!” he said, grinning at his soulmate. “Last birthday apart! In just six months, I get to see your gorgeous face in person!”

Rose flushed at the compliment, but she was also beaming widely.

“My mum and dad are here!” James said excitedly, before he called them in from the kitchen, where they were cleaning up from his birthday dinner.

They walked into the living room hand-in-hand, looking like they were having more fun than doing dishes allowed for.

“Say hi to Rose!” he crowed, pointing to his laptop.

“Hello, darling!” they both said, leaning against the back of the sofa to chat with Rose for a minute.

“Hi!” Rose said, waving at them both. “Have a good flight out?”

“Yep. We were delayed slightly due to a storm during our layover in Chicago, but we got here eventually,” Robert answered.

“Any plans for the weekend?” Rose asked.

“Sight-seeing, mostly,” Vera said. “We lived in the area before, if you remember. So we’re going to revisit a few of our favorite destinations, and maybe explore some new ones.”

“Oh, that’ll be fun,” Rose said.

“What about you?” Vera asked. “Any plans?

“Not really,” Rose admitted. “Well, movie night Friday with James. Un-unless you’re still going to be exploring the city?”

“Nope!” James said. “We’ve made sure our itinerary gets us home by eight o’clock, your time.”

“Oh, you don’t have to,” Rose said quickly. “We can skip this week, I don’t mind.”

“Pfft, movie nights with you are my favorite part of the week,” James said. “Bit of Netflix and chill, you know. Can never say no to that.”

Rose’s jaw dropped and her cheeks pinkened as Robert and Vera both shouted, “James!”

His eyebrows furrowed as he glanced around between the three shell-shocked people.

“What?” James mumbled, scrubbing a hand across the back of his neck. “It’s just… movie night. You know. Relaxing on the couch with a film.”

His parents’ look of horror faded into amused indulgence, and Robert ruffled James’s hair before he and Vera returned to the kitchen.

Rose’s lips pursed into a smile as she asked gently, “James, do you know what Netflix and chill means? You know, the modern meaning of it?”

He sniffed and clicked onto the internet and Googled the phrase…

…And then nearly choked when he saw the urban dictionary definition.

“Oh! Oh, God!” he gasped, horrified. “Oh, no, no, no! No, no, we’re not doing that! Oh, God, I’m so sorry, Rose! I didn’t mean that! Of course not! Shit! I’m sorry!”

Rose, who had been laughing at him, suddenly sobered.

“Er, not to make this conversation any more awkward,” she prefaced, twisting a piece of hair around her finger. “But that was a rather, er, _vehement_ denial.”

“Of course!” James squawked, feeling utterly mortified. “That was so inappropriate! Of course we’re not… we’re not… you know… _Netflix and chilling_!”

“Right,” Rose mumbled, her cheeks turning red again. “Like… ever?”

James furrowed his brow as his mind went blank. _Surely she wasn’t suggesting…_

“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re getting at, love,” he said gently.

“Sex,” Rose blurted out. “Do you… do you want it? With me? Eventually?”

James blinked rapidly at the screen as his brain tried to process what she’d just asked.

“Ehm… this isn’t appropriate,” he said weakly, desperately trying to keep his thoughts of Rose chaste. _She’s still underage,_ he told himself firmly. _She’s underage and you’re an adult, and you can’t think of her like that._

“So you don’t?” Rose asked, her voice small.

James’s heart thudded uncomfortably against his ribs when he saw how nervous and self-conscious she looked.

“Rose, please,” James begged. “We can’t be talking about this!”

“Why not?” Rose demanded. “You said it yourself! In six months, we’ll be able to meet! Is it wrong of me to want to know your expectations?”

James shrugged helplessly, and scraped his fingers though his hair. No, it wasn’t wrong of her at all.

“Yeah,” James murmured, staring at a flaw in the wood of his coffee table. “Yeah, I do want that with you. If you do, too, that is.”

“I want that too, James,” Rose said shyly.

He chanced a glance at Rose, and saw she looked as nervous as he felt. She smiled at him, and he couldn’t help by return it.

“I can’t wait to see you,” Rose sighed longingly. “I can’t wait to give you the biggest hug when I meet you.”

“I think you’ll find that _I_ am going to give _you_ the biggest hug,” James countered.

“Oh yeah?” Rose asked, a teasing twinkle entering her eye.

“Yep,” he said confidently. “You’re much smaller than I am, so it only makes sense that I will be the one giving the biggest hug. It’s a law of physics.”

“Is it now?” Rose asked, smirking at him.

“Oh, yes. The McCrimmon Law of Embraces,” James drawled. “The bigger of the two parties involved in the hug is the one that provides the biggest hug. It’s a very well-known law.”

Rose finally broke, and she laughed at him, and the sound sent his heart lurching low in his belly.

“I can’t wait to test that theory,” Rose said wistfully.

“Excuse me, it’s a law,” James said, and Rose stuck her tongue out at him. “And I can’t wait either, love. God, I can’t wait.”

Rose sighed heavily.

“I’m going to show up on your doorstep early on April twenty-seventh,” James said, settling back against his sofa. “I’ll have your birthday roses in my hand, and I’ll knock on your door.”

“And my mum will probably answer the door,” Rose teased.

James grimaced.

“But I’ll be right behind her,” Rose continued. “And I’m going to knock the flowers out of your hands—”

“Oi, I spent good money on those!” James protested.

Rose rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, I’ll grab them and give them to Mum and I’m going to jump into your arms.”

“And I’ll catch you,” James promised. “And I’m going to hold you for approximately a million and one minutes.”

“A million and one, eh?” Rose asked. “That might get a little problematic.”

“Oh, fine,” James said with a long-suffering sigh. “I’ll hold you until you demand to be put down.”

“Never gonna happen,” Rose assured. “Mum, though, might protest to us standing in the doorway for a million and one minutes.”

“Hmm, you’re right. So I’ll hold you until your mum smacks me to let you go,” James said.

“And then?” Rose prompted.

“And-and then what?” James asked, never having allowed himself to fantasize beyond hugging Rose for the first time.

“I’ll tell you what I imagine next,” Rose said, her voice going low. “I imagine our first kiss.”

“You do?” he squeaked, trying to keep his eyes from staring obviously at her lips.

“Mhm,” Rose said, licking her bottom lip and making it look shiny and so, so kissable. “I imagine that once you set me on my feet again, I’m going to go right back into your arms and I’m going to run my fingers through that gorgeous hair of yours, and I’m going to kiss my soulmate for the first time.”

James shivered in imagined pleasure at the feel of Rose’s lips on his.

“Yeah,” he croaked. “Yeah, that’ll be brilliant.”

Rose smiled shyly. “Yeah?”

“Oh, yes,” James said more firmly. “Yes, Rose. Oh, love, I can’t wait to see you and hold you and kiss you as often as I want to. Well, as often as you’ll let me.”

“Which will be as often as you want to,” Rose assured.

Happiness bubbled up in James’s chest and escaped him in a low giggle.

“I love you,” Rose murmured, looking longingly at him through the webcam.

“I love you, too,” James said as his entire being seemed to ache with sadness and impatience. He wanted to be with his soulmate _now_.

“Right, I ought to head to bed,” Rose sighed.

James glanced at the clock and noticed it was nearing midnight for her.

“Quite right,” he said. “Go on off to bed. Talk to you later. Sweet dreams.”

“Night,” Rose said, and with a small wave, his computer screen went dark.

James sighed and scrubbed his hands across his face.

Just six more months. He could do this.


	4. A glass of water, another bedtime story, and Daddy cuddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place after [And Baby Makes Three](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10397184/chapters/22958856) (and it will also take place during/after the next story in the series, which is Baby #2's story, but that story isn't out yet, so for now y'all just get a cameo of Baby #2).
> 
> Chapter Rating: Teen (just for the beginning scene)

Rose’s hair tickled his nose as he caught his breath, his body still fizzing with pleasure and endorphins. Her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, gone from where they had been fisted in his hair and against his bum, and she was tracing random lines across his skin. The gentle caresses of her fingers and the way she pressed kisses against his cheek made him feel even more boneless, and he never ever wanted to leave this spot…

Then came a rattling sound at the door handle. He stiffened and felt Rose drop her hands from his body. They both cast a glance at the door—which James was 99% sure he had locked before he and Rose had gotten too far in their intimacy—and they both breathed a sigh of relief when they confirmed the door was indeed locked, keeping their four-year-old from seeing anything she shouldn’t.

“Daddy? Mummy?”

James rolled off of Rose as he asked, “What’s the matter, Ainsley?”

“Can I come in?” she asked.

“No, darling, go back to sleep,” he answered, wondering if she would actually listen.

“I can’t sleep,” she whined. “Pleeeease, Daddy, can I stay with you and Mummy tonight?”

James sighed and scrubbed his hands across his face, before he rolled out of bed and stood on wobbly legs to pull on his discarded boxers.

“You go on to sleep, love,” he murmured to Rose, walking over to her to press a kiss to her forehead before he moved to open the door.

Ainsley was about to run in, but James placed a gentle hand on her chest.

“Mummy’s asleep, darling,” he lied, quickly slipping out of the room and tugging the door shut behind him. “Let’s not disturb her, eh?”

Ainsley pouted up at him for a minute, before she recognized that it was a lost cause, and she sighed and nodded.

“How about we go to the kitchen for a glass of water?” James suggested, bending down to pick up his daughter. “Then I’ll lay with you in your bed for a little while. Does that sound like a good compromise?”

“Compromise?” Ainsley asked, scrunching her nose in confusion.

“It means a situation that pleases both people, even if it’s not what they both originally wanted,” James explained. “We can’t go lay with Mummy like you want to, because she’s sleeping and we don’t want to wake her. And I want you to go to bed on your own so I can go back to sleep, too. But I’m suggesting I’ll lay with you in your bed, which isn’t exactly what you or I want, but it’s better than me just sending you back to your room alone. That make sense, darling?”

“I guess so,” Ainsley said, watching as he poured her a small glass of water. Then she glanced at him and asked, “Why was your door locked?”

“Habit,” James said, hoping Ainsley didn’t see how red his cheeks and ears must have gotten. “Mum and I lock up the entire house before we go to bed, and sometimes we lock our bedroom door by accident too.”

Ainsley nodded and gulped down her water. “Why were you and Mummy making noises if Mummy’s asleep?”

“Sorry?” James squeaked, taking Ainsley’s empty cup.

“I heard noises,” Ainsley repeated.

“Mummy was dreaming,” James said, turning around to rinse her cup. “And snoring. So was I, until I was awoken by _someone_.”

James turned around and tickled his fingers against Ainsley’s ribs and then underneath her neck, and she broke out into peals of laughter.

“Stop, Daddy!” she squealed, wriggling away from him and batting at his hands.

James grinned and relented.

“Ready to go back to bed, darling?” he asked, picking her up again.

“No,” she said, even as she began to yawn. “Not sleepy.”

“Not sleepy, eh?” he asked dubiously, and Ainsley smiled sheepishly as she rested her head on his shoulder. “I think someone’s sleepier than she’d care to admit.”

“Will you still lay with me?” she asked, nuzzling her face into his neck as she yawned again.

“’Course,” he whispered, rubbing her back as he walked to her room. Out of habit, he peeked his head into the nursery and smiled when he saw Sianin sleeping peacefully in her crib. “I promised I would, didn’t I?”

Ainsley nodded and let him lay her down in bed and tuck the sheets around her, before he squeezed his body into her small bed.

“Can you tell me a story?” Ainsley asked, curling up against him.

James ran his fingers through her soft, dark hair as he made up a story of a traveler.

“Is he a time traveler, Daddy?” Ainsley mumbled, her eyes drooping shut.

“Sure,” James answered, smiling. “But close your eyes now, darling.”

James continued to tell Ainsley a story of a man who wanted to see the universe, so he stole a space ship and ran away from home. Before he got too deep into the story and would need to access every creative synapse he had, he heard a soft snore come from beside him, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He slowly inched his way out of her bed, nearly falling when he realized he was closer to the edge of the mattress than he thought. But he finally managed to stand up, and he fixed her blankets for her and he smiled at his sleeping child. She was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen.

“Goodnight, Ainsley,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I love you so much.”

He walked down the hall to his own bedroom, and he left the door open a crack this time before he joined his wife in bed.

“All right?” she mumbled as he settled onto the mattress beside her.

“Yep,” he answered. “Nothing a glass of water, another bedtime story, and a Daddy cuddle couldn’t fix.”

Rose smiled sleepily at him, and she leaned over to peck a kiss to his lips, before she rolled over and hugged their duvet to her chest as she fell asleep.

James sighed deeply in contentment, thinking that no man on earth had ever been as happy as him, before he rolled over and joined his family in sleep.


	5. Birthday Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is set a few months after the end of [Perfect Match](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7881616/chapters/18001666), so this is pre-kids, newlywed(ish) fluff. Well mostly fluff, as Rose attempts to make James his usual birthday breakfast. Key word: attempts.
> 
> Chapter Rating: Teen

The sound of the smoke alarm greeted James as he was stepping out of the shower, and it was soon followed by the smell of said smoke. He hastily tugged on pants and a shirt before jogging to find Rose.

He found her in the kitchen, surrounded by chaos. The smoke was emanating from a frying pan on the stove, which Rose was currently fretting over, while shards of ceramic were sprayed across the tile with what looked suspiciously like blood drops around one of the smaller shards.

“Rose, love, everything okay?”

“No!” she cried, and James’s heart fell when he saw tears running down her face and the way she had a hand wrapped in a towel.

“What happened? Let me see.”

He glided up to her, taking care to avoid stepping on anything sharp.

“I’ve ruined your birthday breakfast!” she whimpered, flicking on the fan above the stove as she opened the lid of the frying pan to reveal blackened sausages sizzling in grease.

“I don’t care about breakfast,” he said, reaching out to touch her toweled hand. “What happened to _you?_ Are _you_ all right? Let me see, love.”

Rose unwrapped the towel to reveal a bloodied finger, and a few bright red ones.

“I burnt myself on the pan,” Rose said, sniffling. “Then I turned the heat down on the sausages but I must’ve accidentally turned it up! I was about to make you a cup of coffee when I dropped your mug because my fingers are sore, and so I tried to clean it up and I nicked myself because the bloody smoke alarm went off!”

“Hey, shh,” James whispered, tugging her in for a hug. “It’s all right. You’ve just had a bad morning. It happens. Don’t cry, love. Come here. Let me fix it.”

He pecked a kiss to her temple and stepped away from her. He opened up the cabinet and took out a new mug, and one for Rose, and he set them on the countertop with a flourish.

“Ta-da!” he crowed, beaming happily. His smile slipped when he saw Rose sniffle and swipe at her eyes.

“That was your favorite mug,” she mumbled, staring at the colorful shards on the floor.

“Only because you made it for me,” James said. He stepped up to her and took her uninjured hand in his. “Honestly, Rose. It’s just a mug. It can be replaced. Tell you what, the next time the community center offers a pottery class, you can join and you can make me a new mug, if that’ll make you feel better. Then that one will become my new favorite. How’s that sound?”

Rose finally offered him a glimpse of a smile, and she leaned her head against his shoulder.

“I still ruined your birthday breakfast,” she sighed, glancing over at the charred sausages.

“That’s all right,” James said. “There’s some bacon in the fridge, too. We can start over, and make it together. But first, why don’t you pop off to the loo and wash that hand? Don’t want it getting infected.”

Rose sighed and nodded, and turned to walk out of the kitchen.

James, meanwhile, dodged the sharp pieces of ceramic to find a dustpan and broom, and he swept up the mess on the floor. He got down on his hands and knees to run a thorough eye across the floor to be certain he’d gotten every last piece.

He then took the burnt sausages and chucked them in the garbage and opened up a window to get the smell of smoke out of the flat.

When Rose returned a few minutes later, with a plaster wrapped around her thumb, she looked much better.

“Care to get the bacon out of the fridge, my love?” James asked as he pulled down the ingredients for pancakes from the cabinets.

“I really am sorry,” Rose said as she set the bacon on the counter.

“And I’ve told you, don’t be,” James said firmly, spinning around to face her. “These things happen. A birthday breakfast isn’t the most important part of the day. Not by far. _You_ are the most important part of today, and every day. _You_ make my birthday special, not pancakes and sausages, or even coffee mugs.”

Rose smiled at him, and rested her head on his chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Love you,” she murmured into his chest.

“As I love you,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head. “Come on now, Rose Tyler-McCrimmon! This bacon won’t cook itself! Why don’t you make yourself a cuppa tea? That’s probably part of why this morning went all wrong. You haven’t caffeinated yourself yet.”

Rose rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at James before she grabbed the kettle, filled it, and flicked it on, before she poured James a cup of coffee, adding just a splash of cream and two spoonfuls of sugar.

“Your coffee, Mr. McCrimmon,” Rose said sweetly, setting it beside him.

“That’s Mr. Tyler-McCrimmon to you,” he growled, spinning around snag her hips between his hands.

Rose grinned brightly at him and giggled, and the sound made his belly swoop deliciously. He chased the sound with his lips, catching her in for a sweet kiss.

She sighed against his mouth and wrapped her arms around his shoulders to hold him close. But before he could deepen the kiss into a snog, Rose pulled away from him.

He pouted at her, and whined, “I thought the birthday boy got whatever he wanted today?”

Rose rolled her eyes and reached out to ruffle his hair.

“Maybe later,” she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “But for now, mind the bacon, lest it go the way of the sausages.”

James pouted again, but dutifully turned back to the stovetop just in time to flip the bacon before they got too charred.

“They’re going to be slightly crispier than normal,” James proclaimed as he turned down the heat and covered the sizzling meat. “Can I give you a hand with the pancakes?”

He stepped up behind her and pressed his front flush with her back. He slowly ground his hips into her bum as he reached out her to crack an egg and added it to the bowl of milk and flour she was mixing.

“Oi, stop humping me and go check on the bacon!” Rose admonished, but the slightly breathless quality of her voice made the command lose its strength.

“Hmm, but you’re just so hump-able,” James murmured in her ear before he nibbled at the sensitive spot at the join of her neck and shoulder.

“Oh, thanks,” Rose drawled, letting her head fall to the side to give him more access as he kissed her neck. “A very high compliment.”

“The highest,” he said, taking his hands away from the bowl to cup her breasts.

Her breath hitched, then she spun in his arms. She pressed a thigh between his legs, giving him a sudden rush of pleasure, and then it was gone.

“I’ll make you a deal,” she said, her voice low and husky. “Let’s finish breakfast, then we can continue this from the comfort of our bedroom.”

“I’ll make you a better deal,” James replied, pressing his hips tighter to hers for more friction. “How about I turn off the stove and we put the batter in the fridge, and we take this to the bedroom now and finish breakfast later.”

“Hmm, but hot, fresh bacon is so much better than reheating it in the microwave,” Rose pouted. “Please, James. Let’s eat first. Besides, you’re going to need stamina for all I have planned for you today.”

He whimpered at the promise in her voice and the way she whispered into his ear.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” she purred, nipping lightly at his earlobe before she pushed him away.

“You always do,” he said, his voice slightly strained as he tried to ignore the throbbing in his pants in favor of looking after the bacon as Rose fried up the pancakes.

She seemed intent on torturing him throughout breakfast. She reached out and settled her feet in his lap and kept her toes against his erection as they ate, and she gave him slow strokes every few minutes. By the time their plates were cleared, James was half-mad with desire, and he wanted nothing more than to scoop her up into his arms and run her to their bedroom.

“Let’s clear up the dishes first,” she said innocently. “It’ll be harder to clean if the grease and batter has been caked on.”

“Don’t care,” he mumbled, trying to tug her into his arms to kiss her.

“Nope, a few minutes more won’t hurt,” Rose said, spinning to rinse the dishes then put them in the dishwasher.

“Want to bet?” he grumbled.

He knew it would go faster if he helped her, but he was quite content enacting his revenge. He ground his erection against her as he fondled her breasts and pressed his fingers into the seam of her jeans. She gasped loudly at that, and her hands trembled.

“Careful with that,” James murmured as he scraped his teeth across her neck. “Don’t want another broken mug on our hands, do we?”

“You bloody tease,” Rose said shakily, placing the mug on the rack.

“Pot, kettle,” he snorted. “Or rather, frying pan, kettle.”

He grinned at his own joke, and Rose shook her head at him.

“Why don’t you get yourself ready in the bedroom,” Rose suggested, pushing back against him.

The motion sent sparks of pleasure low in his gut, and he hummed happily.

“Oh, but why would I ever leave here?” he asked. “This is so nice. You’re so soft, and warm.”

Finally, _finally_ , the dishes were all loaded into the dishwasher, and not a moment too soon, in James’s opinion. As soon as she started the machine, he spun her in his arms and attacked.

His mouth crashed against hers, hot, wet, and desperate, and he clung to her bum as his hips rutted against hers.

“Eager, are we?” Rose teased, rocking against him in time with his thrusts.

“Minx,” he gasped, catching her lips in his once more.

She sucked at his bottom lip, scraping her teeth across it in a way that sent chills of pleasure across his scalp and down his spine. He moaned into her mouth as her tongue teased its way into his mouth, brushing across the roof of his mouth and around his tongue.

He broke the kiss long enough to beg, “Let’s go to bed. Please, love.”

Rose nodded and pushed against his shoulders. He released her lips with a wet pop and he panted raggedly before he grabbed her hand and tugged her after him as he eagerly jogged to their bedroom.


	6. Bad Dad Award

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place after/during Baby #2's story, but the main focus is Ainsley and James.
> 
> This was written for an anonymous user who requested James or Rose forgetting to pick Ainsley up for some kind of appointment.
> 
> Chapter Rating: Light Teen (only for moderate swearing at the beginning)

James hastily shoved his sandwich into his mouth, in a hurry to get something in his stomach before going back to the chemistry department to help the technician repair a laser within one of the lab’s microscopes.

But just as he crammed the last bit of turkey and cheese into his mouth, his office phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, and there was something familiar about the phone number, but he couldn’t place it.

“Hello, this is Doctor James Tyler-McCrimmon,” he answered after swallowing down the food in his mouth.

“Good afternoon,” said a crisp female voice. “I’m calling from St. Mary’s. We’ve got Miss Ainsley Tyler-McCrimmon in our office insisting that she’s—”

“Oh, shit,” James muttered, glancing at his desk calendar. He heart dropped when he saw _Ainsley – dentist – 1:30pm_ scribbled across the date, circled many times in red. “Shit, shit, shit. Sorry. I’m on my way. Thanks for calling! Bugger.”

James grabbed his keys and bag and rushed out of his office. He made a detour to the microscope lab, ready to apologize profusely to the lab tech.

“Don’t bother,” the technician said when he appeared in the door. “Laser’s completely irreparable. I’ve placed an order for a new one. Should be here by the end of the week.”

“Oh, brilliant,” James breathed, and upon seeing the raised eyebrow, he hurriedly added, “Not that the laser’s broken. It’s just… my daughter has a dentist appointment I forgot about. I’m taking the rest of the afternoon off. Keep me updated on the laser. Sorry!”

Then he turned on his heel and jogged to the car park. He glanced at the clock as he started the car. 1:12. He was supposed to pick up Ainsley at one o’clock.

“Shit,” he growled, pressing his foot harder to the accelerator. How on earth could he have forgotten his daughter?

Thankfully, Ainsley’s school was only five minutes from his work, but the dentist was a good twenty-minute drive away, and that was if there was no traffic. There was no way they’d make it in time.

He got out his mobile and dialed the dentist’s number.

“Hi, yes, this is James Tyler-McCrimmon. My daughter, Ainsley, has an appointment today at one-thirty,” he said as he walked into the school. “But we’re running a tad bit late.”

“Oh, no worries, sir,” the receptionist said. “One of our staff is out sick today, so we’ve been a little behind on all of our appointments.”

“Oh, great,” he said. “Well, not that you’re behind. Anyways, we’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

He rang off, and swept into the administrative offices, where he saw Ainsley sitting on  chair, swinging her little legs under the seat.

“Daddy!”

“Hey there, darling!” he greeted, opening his arm as Ainsley skipped up to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her forehead against his hip.

“I told them you’d be here!” Ainsley said brightly, and a knot of shame tied itself in his gut. He wouldn’t have come if the school hadn’t phoned.

James made quick work of signing her out for the day, ignoring the stern looks the receptionist was giving him as she muttered about a six-year-old being more responsible than a grown adult. He instead looked down at Ainsley and said, “Ready to get those teeth cleaned?”

Ainsley grimaced and said, “Why? They’re just gonna fall out anyway.”

James suppressed a smile, and reached down for her hand as they walked out of the school.

“Because we need to keep your baby teeth nice and healthy so your adult teeth come in nice and healthy, too,” he answered, tightening his grip on her hand as he guided her through the parking lot, even though it was mostly empty.

He efficiently strapped her into her car seat, buckled himself in, and sped off across town for her appointment.

“I’m sorry I was late, Ainsley,” James said, glancing at her in the rearview mirror. “I was helping another lab fix a laser and time just got away from me.”

“That’s okay!” Ainsley said. “You’re here now.”

James sighed, still ashamed of himself. He didn’t deserve the forgiveness of his daughter.

He focused instead on the light traffic and driving as quickly and safely as he could to the dentist’s office.

They made it eventually, only fifteen minutes late, and he waited with his daughter until they called her back.

An hour and a half later, James and Ainsley and Sianin, who he picked up early so Rose wouldn’t have to get her on her way home from work, strolled into the house. He set the girls loose to play, and he started tidying up the house.

By the time Rose got home, he’d cleaned all of the bathrooms, vacuumed all of the rooms in the house, cleaned the windows of all the little fingerprints that came with living with two small children, and had dinner in the oven.

“Oh boy, someone’s been a busy bee!” Rose exclaimed when she walked into the house and smelled the lingering scent of bleach and saw the lines in the carpet from the vacuum. “Did you girls help Daddy?”

Sianin, oblivious to what her mother was talking about, continued playing with the block tower she was building, while Ainsley fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

“Daddy didn’t ask,” she mumbled, staring at the floor.

“But wouldn’t it have been nice of you to ask if you could help?” Rose asked, crouching down to try and meet her daughter’s gaze.

“I suppose,” Ainsley said.

“Hello, love!” James said, stepping into the living room. When he saw Rose crouched in front of an uncomfortable-looking Ainsley, he furrowed his brow and asked, “Everything all right?”

“Yep,” Rose said. “Just telling Ainsley that it would’ve been nice of her to offer to help you clean the house.”

“Oh, no need,” James said, winking at Ainsley. “If I’d wanted help, I’d’ve asked.”

Ainsley beamed, and when Rose stood up, she skipped back over to Sianin and started building a second tower beside her sister’s.

“James, I was trying to make a point,” Rose said, slightly irritated at her husband. “I want to teach her that it’s nice to offer her help without being asked.”

“Yeah, well, there’s plenty of time to teach her that particular lesson,” James said dismissively, turning back around to check on the veggies he was steaming.

The kitchen was quiet for a few minutes, and James thought Rose had left the room to change out of her work clothes. But then she appeared in his periphery, and she asked, “All right, what’s wrong?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re being weird,” Rose said. “Something must have happened.”

James sighed. He cracked open the oven to check on the chicken he was baking. It was browning nicely and smelled heavenly. He shut the door and turned to lean against the counter, and he crossed his arms across his chest as he murmured, “I won the Bad Dad Award today.”

“Oh, no!” Rose gasped. “What happened?”

“I forgot about Ainsley’s dentist appointment,” he admitted, looking at a point beyond Rose’s shoulder. “The school had to call me.”

Rose furrowed her brows, “But I reminded you this morning.”

“I know,” James replied, irritated. “Thanks for that. It’s not like I don’t already feel like shit.”

Rose reached out and touched his arm, looking apologetic. “Sorry, love. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just… you’re usually so on top of this kind of stuff. Memory like an elephant, you’ve got.”

“I know!” James groaned, scrubbing his palms down his face. “I feel like I let her down, you know. I _forgot_ about her, Rose!”

“You didn’t forget her, James,” Rose said firmly. “You forgot the appointment.”

“Same difference, isn’t it?”

“Nope,” Rose said. “Try not to feel too badly. They were still able to see her, weren’t they?” When he nodded, Rose shrugged and said, “Then no harm done, eh?”

“No harm except my own pride and sense of fatherly duties,” he grumbled.

“James, listen to me,” Rose said. “Every parent forgets an appointment or two for their child. My mum certainly did for me. I’m sure your parents did for you, too.”

“You’ve never forgotten one of the girls’ appointments,” James said bitterly.

“No, but now you’ve jinxed it,” Rose said, bumping her hip against his teasingly. But he still looked thoroughly miserable. “Look, James, don’t worry about it. It happens to everyone. Ainsley still adores you. You haven’t disappointed her or let her down or anything. Okay? You have nothing to make up for, and don’t try to tell me your suddenly cleaning spree didn’t have anything to do with you feeling like you needed to fix things or prove yourself.”

James smiled sheepishly.

“You know me too well, love,” he said, finally uncrossing his arms to wrap her in a hug.

“Well I should hope so!” Rose said, grinning. “You’re kind of my soulmate, and I’m kind of in love with you.”

James snorted, and held her tight for a moment.

“Well, that’s good,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m kind of in love with you, too.”

Rose pulled back and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.

“C’mon,” Rose said, pulling back. “Let’s finish up supper. With the way is smells, you’ve already earned back your World’s Best Dad, Husband, and Soulmate award.”

James giggled high in his throat, and took the chicken out of the oven while Rose went to give their girls the five-minute warning until suppertime.


	7. James vs. the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James vs. the sun. Spoilers: the sun wins.
> 
> This is set after And Baby Makes Three (well, after the story but before the epilogue... Ainsley isn't quite two yet).

“No!”

“One minute, Ainsley,” James said patiently as she squirmed away from his touch. “Gotta get you all covered with sunscreen. No sunburn on my watch. One more minute, darling.”

“Done,” Ainsley growled, ducking away from his hands. “Down.”

“Nope, one minute,” he said, slathering sunscreen over every inch of her skin. “One minute. Gotta get those little legs!”

James pinched her pudgy thighs as he rubbed in the lotion, and grinned when Ainsley’s whine dissolved into laughter.

“Aaaand, done!” he finally crowed.

“Done!”

“Are we all ready to go?” Rose asked, a heavy-looking back slung over her arm.

“Done!” Ainsley proclaimed again.

“Have we all put on sun screen?” Rose asked, looking directly at James.

“Er, well, I’ll do it when we get on the beach,” he said sheepishly.

“Oh, no you don’t, Mister ‘You should give the sunscreen a half hour grace period to start working’,” Rose chastised. She slipped the baby’s sunscreen into her bag and rooted around for the bottle for them. “Lather up.”

“Care to do the honors?” he asked eagerly, stepping up to her. “Can’t reach my back.”

“Well, then, make sure to tell me when your back needs done,” Rose said innocently as she squirted lotion into her palms and rubbed it over her skin.

James pouted, but dutifully rubbed the sunblock over his fair skin.

“Help,” Ainsley said, rubbing her hands against his thighs.

Despite his legs already being done, he reached down and put a smear of sunscreen onto his calves.

“Can you rub that in for Daddy?” he asked, before he stripped off his t-shirt and lotioned his belly, chest, and arms. “Rose, love, now can you do my back?”

They took turns lotioning each other’s backs, and several minutes later, they were all ready for the beach.

“Let’s go!” James said, ushering them all out of the little beachfront cottage they’d rented for an extended weekend.

“Up,” Ainsley said, yanking on his swim trunks. “Daddy.”

James reached down and tugged her into his arms, but before he could settle her on his hip, she patted his shoulder and said, “Up?”

“As you wish, my darling.” James smoothly adjusted his grip under her armpits and lifted her above his head until she was perched on his shoulders.

Her little fingers gripped his hair and he draped a hand over her thigh, despite knowing she was well-practiced on how to balance herself when he carried her like this.

“Got everything?” James asked, and at her nod, her tugged the front door tightly shut behind them. He then moved to take the bag from her, but she batted his hand away and draped it over her shoulder.

“I’ve got it,” she said, and instead linked her fingers through his as they made the short walk to the shore.

They spent hours at the beach. Ainsley was utterly enthralled by the incoming waves, and she spent hours just sitting in the sand and letting the water splash up against her.

James and Rose were careful to make sure they kept her in sight at all times, and that the water never got higher than her bellybutton.

“C’mere, darling,” James said, plopping down in the sand behind her for the hourly reapplication of sunscreen.

Ainsley chattered excitedly as the tide swirled around her. As it receded, she leaned forward and dug her hands into the sand, as though to catch it, but the water trickled through her fingers.

“Time for sunscreen,” James announced as he smeared the lotion across her body.

“No,” Ainsley said, scooting up and away from him.

“Yes,” James countered, scooting after her. “Remember what I said this morning: no sunburn on my watch. You’re coming home as pale as you were when we left. Okie doke?”

“Doke,” Ainsley said, nodding.

James quickly rubbed the lotion into her soft skin, and then jogged back to their towels to drop the sunblock into their bag.

“Make sure you reapply to yourself,” Rose reminded, cleaning up their trash from lunch.

“Yep, I’m about to do that now,” he said. But as he started lotioning his legs, he saw Ainsley stand and jog along the shoreline away from them.

“I’ve got her!” he called behind his shoulder, already running towards her.

Ainsley looked back and saw him chasing her, and she giggled and put on speed.

“Hah, gotcha!”

James scooped her up and lifted her up into the air. He tossed her up and caught her, before he brought her to his chest.

“How about you watch Daddy build sandcastles?” he suggested, sitting down with her.

Ainsley’s eyes widened in delight as he made a fortress of sand around her.

“Again!” Ainsley said as her little fist demolished his creation.

“But you’re just going to wreck it!” James whined, even as he dutifully began shoveling damp sand into the bucket.

But this time, the castle was ruined by the tide, which had been steadily creeping closer to where he and Ainsley were playing.

She yelped in surprise when the waves lapped at her little feet, but then she turned towards the receding ocean and chased it.

“Whoa, Ainsley, no!”

James jumped up and smashed a castle with his foot as he raced after Ainsley. By the time he reached her, she was nearly chest-deep in the ocean.

“Ainsley, you don’t go running off without me or Mummy,” he chastised gently, scooping her up out of the water. “Especially not here. This water gets really deep really quickly and I want you safe.”

“In?” Ainsley asked, pointing out to the ocean. “Play?”

“All right,” James said, and he backed up a few paces. “But right here, okay?”

He set Ainsley down, and she giggled as the water came up to her thighs. James watched her splash in the shallow water, and how she chased after the receding tide, and sprinted away when it came in.

“Having fun?”

Bare, warm arms wrapped around his waist, and he hummed and leaned back into Rose’s touch.

“Oh, yes,” he said, dropping his hands to hers to give her fingers a squeeze. “Finish your book?”

“Nah,” she said. “I didn’t get much reading done at all. I got distracted by this really fit bloke with a beautiful baby.”

James hummed deep in his throat, and spun around. His eyes raked over her body, barely covered as it was by her bikini. The scraps of blue fabric accentuated her cleavage nicely, and left hardly anything to the imagination as he let his gaze wander up and down her long legs.

“You are the most beautiful person on this beach,” he murmured, dropping his hands to her waist.

She grinned, and leaned up to catch his lips in for a kiss. It was a chaste kiss, just a gentle press of their lips, but James still allowed himself a quick squeeze of her bum.

“Oi, behave!” she laughed, pushing at his shoulders.

Then she frowned, and put her hand back on his chest.

“When was the last time you reapplied sunscreen?” Rose asked, poking his reddening skin.

“Lunchtime,” he said promptly, holding out his arms.

“No, you were going to, but Ainsley took off for the water,” Rose said with furrowed brows. “Please don’t tell me you’ve gone all day without reapplying sunscreen!”

James sighed and poked his finger into his skin, watching it turn bright white before throbbing back to a dull red.

“Bugger,” he mumbled.

“C’mon,” Rose said. “It’s nearly dinnertime. Let’s go back to the cottage and get you out of the sun. Ainsley, sweetheart, time to go.”

“No!” she shouted, plopping into the sand. The water ebbed and flowed around her, and she smacked at it with her hands.

Rose shared a glance with James and they both moved and took one of Ainsley’s hands.

“Swing!” they shouted together, lifting her up into the air and swinging her between the two of them.

Ainsley shrieked with laughter and kicked out her legs, splashing in the water.

“Again!” she demanded when they set her on her feet.

“One more time,” Rose allowed, picking her hand back up. “Okay? One… two… three…”

“Swing!” she hollered, pulling her legs up as they lifted her. “Again?”

“Nope,” James said, tugging his fingers free from her grip. “We said one more, remember?”

“Again?” she pouted.

“How about you help Daddy pack up the sand toys?” Rose suggested as James made his way to their towels. “Go get Daddy. Run!”

Thirty minutes later, they returned to their cottage, exhausted from their beach day fun.

Ainsley was asleep when they got back, and Rose set her in the bedroom for a nap before she returned to her husband. Her husband, who had his shirt off and was poking and prodding his angry red skin.

“Oh, James!”

She rushed up to him and hovered her hands around his chest, wincing when she felt the heat radiating from his skin.

“Oh, love,” she murmured sympathetically. “I’m so sorry.”

“S’my own stupid fault,” James muttered, continuing to poke his skin to watch it go from red to white then back again.

“Stop that,” Rose chastised. “Why don’t you get a cold shower, and I’ll go out and buy some aloe?”

“Nah, it’s not that bad,” James said, waving her off. “I’ll be fine.”

Rose ignored him, and went to a nearby shop for the aloe, which came in handy later that night.

“Ow ow ow ow owwwww.”

“Sorry,” Rose said as she helped him peel off his t-shirt. “Oh, ow.”

His skin seemed to glow crimson, and it looked slightly swollen.

“Oh, James,” she whispered, hovering her hands over his skin.

“I think I’m a little burnt.”

“Just a little,” Rose said, frowning

She grabbed the aloe she’d bought, and she sprayed it across every inch of red skin.

He hissed when it hit his skin, then sighed when it started soothing his burn.

“Let’s lay down,” Rose suggested, gesturing to the couch.

She sat down first and got comfy before she ushered James to rest his head against her thigh. Even his cheeks were burnt, and she could feel the heat of them through her pajama bottoms.

“I’m sorry, love,” she murmured, resting her hand in his hair. “I should’ve held you down and rubbed sunscreen on you.”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

Rose snorted, and carded her fingers through his hair.

“My skin has a pulse,” he mumbled, feeling achy and uncomfortable.

“I know,” Rose said sympathetically.

“I don’t think I’ll be well enough for the beach tomorrow,” he sighed. “Ainsley’s going to be so disappointed.”

“She’ll get over it,” Rose said simply.

James hummed and let his eyes drift shut. His head was beginning to ache, adding to the overall discomfort of his body.

As if she sensed it, she adjusted her ministrations, and she rubbed gentle circles against his temples. He sighed and relaxed into her touch until he managed to fall into a fitful sleep.


	8. Love in Starlight (nsfw)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This outtake is from the last chapter of Perfect Match, and it's during their second extended honeymoon.
> 
> Outtake rating: Explicit

“What do you think?”

Rose grinned at him from the passenger’s seat.

“Really? We’re staying here?” she squealed.

In front of them was a small, rustic cabin that seemed to have been plopped in the middle of a small meadow, but was otherwise shrouded by the thick forest of Jasper National Park in Alberta.

“Yep,” James said, popping the ‘p’. “For four days. There are loads of brilliant trails nearby to hike, and this is one of the best places to stargaze in Canada. Help me get the groceries inside and we can do a quick hike today, if you’re up to it?”

“Absolutely,” Rose said, already getting up out of the car. “I could use the fresh air and a chance to stretch my muscles.

Several minutes later found them in the car again and headed towards a car park at the mouth of a hiking trail. 

James and Rose walked hand in hand across the relatively flat path along with the other hikers out on the beautiful June afternoon. The air was crisp, cool, and refreshing, and they enjoyed each other’s company and the tranquil surroundings.

The trail led them past a series of waterfalls, big and small alike, before it opened up into a wide river. The water was a beautiful blue-green, and Rose had fun taking as many photos as she could from many angles. She entrusted her camera to a few other hikers so she and James could have their photo taken with the beautiful scenery.

They returned to their cabin several hours later, tired yet exhilarated from the day.

After a shower and a simple supper, James suggested they go out and star gaze.

“It’s a really clear evening,” James said, peeking out the window at the late evening sky. “It’s a bit cool though.”

“I can put layers on,” Rose said before she turned and walked to their bedroom.

As she put on weather-appropriate clothes, James decided to make them tea to help keep them warm. 

He was pouring hot water into two thermoses when the soft tapping of shoes on hardwood alerted him to his wife’s reappearance.

Rose leaned against the doorway of the kitchen in soft yoga trousers and an oversized sweatshirt with the word ‘Oxford’ emblazoned on the front.

“You know, that sweatshirt looks suspiciously like one of mine,” James said with a smirk as he spooned in a few sugars to the thermoses.

Rose bit her lip as she played with the hood strings of the sweatshirt, twisting them around her fingers.

“I like the way it smells,” she said with a shrug. “It’s like I’m wrapped in a permanent hug from you.”

James’s heart stuttered happily in his chest, and he walked up to her to pull her into his arms.

“It looks much better on you,” he whispered in her ear. “And you know you can have a hug from me whenever you want.”

He pulled back and cradled her jaw in his hand and brushed his thumb across her cheek bone before he pressed his lips to hers. It was a sweet, chaste kiss, but sometimes those kinds of kisses were James’s favorite. The kisses that were meant for mutual comfort and to convey without words just how much he loved her.

“Come,” he whispered, pulling away. “We might be able to catch a glimpse of the sunset.”

He handed Rose the thermoses to carry as he walked to the living room and gathered up the pile of blankets he’d set on the sofa. Blankets in hand, he followed Rose out the back door and to the wide, open field of grass.

The nearby trees were shimmering with hues of pink and gold, reflections of the sunset on the horizon.

“This is beautiful, James,” Rose breathed.

“Yes, it is,” he said with a soft smile.

He set the blankets on the ground and spread one of them out and plopped on top of it. Rose settled herself beside him and handed him his thermos. They sat quietly together, sipping their tea and watching the western horizon fade from pink and gold to light blue to navy as spots of silver dotted the evening sky.

They lay down together and watched the night sky become alight with stars. The air was cool and nipped at their noses, but they used it as an excuse to cuddle closer to each other and wrap themselves in blankets.

Rose nestled her head on James’s shoulder and draped her arm around his waist as she listened to him identify the various constellations that she couldn’t quite see. She enjoyed listening to him talk though, and she interrupted occasionally to point out the various shapes and characters she saw in the stars instead.

There were so many of them; Rose had never seen a night sky like this before. There were so many more stars than she had ever imagined, and the evidence of the vastness of their universe sent a thrill of awe and wonder through her. Not for the first time, Rose was so thankful to be who she was, with the soulmate that she had. Even in a universe as endless as theirs, there was no one like her, and no one like James, and there never would be ever again.

“Ooh! Shooting star!” Rose said gleefully as a white light streaked above them, pulling her back to her cuddle with James.

“Good eye,” he murmured, nuzzling the top of her head. She looked so proud of herself, and his heart tripped in his chest at her smile. He hoped that there would never come a day when his heart would no longer stutter at the sight of Rose’s smile. “Make a wish.”

Rose looked up at him with the softest expression on her face.

“What else would I wish for?” she asked. She set her hand on his chest and rubbed small circles with her thumb. “I already have everything I could have ever wanted.”

She reached up and traced her fingertips across his brow as she brushed his hair away from his face. His chest felt like it could burst with warmth with love for her, and with the love she had for him.

Rose pushed herself up onto her elbow and pressed a kiss to his lips. She slotted his bottom lip between hers and sucked on it gently before she pulled back and gave the same attention to his upper lip. He sighed into her mouth as she continued teasing him with suckling little kisses.

He moved the arm she had been laying on until his hand rested on her hip, and he pushed, pleased that she understood his intention when she rolled on top of him. Her knees were on either side of his hips and he brought his hands up to rest on her bum.

She dropped her hips until she brushed against his burgeoning erection, and James hummed happily against her lips. Their tongues, teeth, and lips explored each other leisurely, enjoying the sparks of heat unfurling between them as they kissed.

“Should we move this inside?” Rose whispered against his skin when he sneaked his hands under her sweatshirt to cradled her breasts in his palms.

“Nah,” he replied, arching his neck back as she began to nip her way down the column of his throat. “S’dark. We’re the only cabin around for miles. No hiking trails nearby either. D’you want to go inside?”

“No. I just wanted to make sure before I did this.”

James swallowed against a dry mouth as Rose pulled away from the love bite she was making on the side of his neck to tug her sweatshirt off. She was completely bare beneath the heavy fabric, and James was utterly entranced at the sight of her nude torso hovering above him, as beautiful as the first time he saw her like this. Her skin seemed to glow silver beneath the light of the moon and stars, and his eyes raked across her soft curves. Her nipples had pebbled upon contact with the cooler air, and they just begged to be played with. But before he went back to them, he wanted to feel her, skin to skin.

He pushed himself into a sitting position to rid his top, too. Unlike Rose, he was wearing a t-shirt beneath his sweatshirt, but after a few moments of struggling with the sleeves, he finally succeeded in removing both garments. The cold air immediately made goosebumps prickle across his skin, and his nipples tightened in response.

He wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her and tugging her against him as he caught her lips in for another kiss. Her breasts rubbed through his chest hair as he kissed her, and her fingers dove into his hair, scraping, tugging, and pulling in all the ways he loved best.

He was throbbing in his pants by now, aching with arousal and the desire to make love with his wife. But sitting here with her in his lap and his arms wrapped around her so tightly felt brilliant too, and he didn’t want to let go of her yet, not even so they could take their intimacy a step further.

Rose didn’t seem to mind, and so he continued to kiss her tenderly as their top halves rubbed together so deliciously. Only when she began to intentionally grind down on him did James release her. While he was more than willing to let events continue, he knew it would inevitably end with him finding his release in his pants, while Rose remained unsatisfied. And that simply wouldn’t do.

“Lift up for me, love,” he whispered against her as he snuck his hands down the backs of her trousers.

“You get yourself ready,” Rose replied, rolling off of him to scramble out of her shoes, socks, trousers, and knickers.

James nodded and hurriedly removed any lingering barriers between himself and Rose before he tugged her back into his lap. Her moist heat settled against the base of his erection and her curls teased the tip, and he whimpered out a moan. She felt so good. She always felt so good.

“Lay back,” she commanded softly, rubbing at his chest and pushing slightly to get him to comply.

He did, and he shivered when his bare back came into contact with the cooled blanket. But he soon forgot any discomfort when she leaned forward and wrapped her arms under his shoulders to find his lips in another kiss.

Her arms held him tightly as her mouth moved down his jaw then across his collarbone. She laved her tongue across his skin while she rocked on top of him, rubbing herself against him and giving him such wonderful friction. Her sharp, panting breaths let him know that she was enjoying her movements just as much as he was, and he closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the sensations she was creating.

She was everywhere. It felt like there was no part of him that she wasn’t touching. Her smell invaded his nose and her taste burst on his tongue and his ears were filled with her breaths. He could even feel her heart pounding atop of his. This was the intimacy he loved with Rose. Making love with her was brilliant, there was no doubt about that, but being completely consumed by her with all five senses was utterly intoxicating. He never knew it was possible to love someone so much, and yet here he was, wondering how his feeble body could even contain it all.

“Ready?” Her voice pulled him back from the hazy fog of pleasure and love he had gotten lost in, and he opened his eyes to meet her gaze. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were glazed and her lips were swollen, and he imagined he didn’t look much different.

“Yeah,” he rasped, becoming acutely aware of how sharp his arousal had become. He was aching with it.

She reached down to take him in hand, and he hissed out a breath and his hips jerked up into her touch. She smirked and gave him a few torturously slow strokes before she guided the tip of him to her wet heat. He sucked in a slow breath as she sank down on him, inch by inch, until she was fully seated on him.

She let out a low moan and he felt her muscles quivering around him. He reached out and caressed his thumbs across her hip bones. After a moment, Rose planted her hands against his chest as she lifted herself up until the tip of him was still barely inside her, then she pressed down again.

It felt so good, the slow push and pull of her muscles against him, and James’s eyes rolled back in his head at the gentle pleasure slowly swelling up through him.

But through his closed lids, he sensed a change in the lighting, and he opened his eyes again.

“Oh! Rose!”

Rose moaned in response, and the sound coiled low in his stomach, but she’d misunderstood his call of her name.

“Rose, love, look! Open your eyes.”

Rose did, and a furrow of confusion appeared between her brow as she stopped moving on top of him. He ached for her to keep moving, but he also wanted her to see the gorgeous light show that was dancing across the sky.

James pushed himself up until he was sitting, and he wrapped an arm around her waist as he pointed to the sky.

“Look,” he murmured into her ear.

Rose glanced over to where he was pointing, and she gasped.

“Oh, that’s beautiful!” she exclaimed.

“Aurora borealis,” James said, watching hues of green dance across the inky sky. Her skin reflected the green light, making her look utterly radiant and ethereal.

He reached up and tangled his fingers into her hair as he guided her head down for a kiss.

What started as a gentle press of their lips grew into something hot and frantic as Rose began grinding down on him again.

He pulled back from the kiss and rested his forehead on her shoulder as she squeezed her muscles so deliciously around him. He slowly lowered himself to the ground again so she would have better leverage.

Her breasts swung tantalizingly in front of his face as she rocked firmly against him, building up the pleasure that had cooled. He reached up and palmed her breasts, tweaking her nipples as he squished and squeezed the firm flesh between his fingers.

Her movements were becoming sloppier and uncoordinated as her moans grew higher pitched. His pleasure mounted to nearly unbearable levels at the sounds she was making, and he dropped a hand from her breast to rub where they were joined.

He scraped his fingertips through her pubic hair as his thumb reached out to massage her clit.

“Oh, God,” she whimpered, closing her eyes tightly as her hips stuttered.

James’s breath caught in his throat as he wrenched his eyes open to watch her tip over in pleasure. The aurora light show was still dancing behind her, wreathing her in blues and greens, and now a hint of fuchsia. She was so beautiful, with her face pinched in pleasure and her teeth biting into her bottom lip.

She sucked in a sharp breath as her muscles clamped tightly around him. Then she arched her neck and gasped out a cry and her muscles pulsed strongly around him. The sight of the moon and the aurora reflecting off her skin and the way her back was arched in utter pleasure made a tight coil of desperation swell up inside him.

She’d stopped moving, losing herself in her orgasm, and James gripped her hips tightly as he thrust up into her. He could no longer keep his eyes open as he felt his pleasure climb higher and higher. It finally broke, and James bucked up sharply into her as he wrapped his arms around her hips, holding her as tightly as he could.

Hot pulses of pleasure and relief radiated out from deep in his groin and he groaned her name. Stars burst behind his eyes, brighter than any star they’d seen that night, and it seemed to go on for an eternity.

He loved this. He loved this so much. Making love with his soulmate was the greatest pleasure he’d ever known, and it always made him feel like he’d fallen out of time. There was nothing but him and her and their love for each other, and he never wanted it to end.

He opened his eyes when a warm weight settled across his chest, and he blearily blinked open his eyes and saw through his swimming vision a nest of blonde hair. He lifted his arms and wrapped them around Rose’s shoulders, hugging her close.

“I love you,” she whispered into his ear, making him shiver.

“I love you, too,” he murmured, stroking his fingers lazily across the bare expanse of her back.

His heart pounded against his ribcage and he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of Rose’s breathing and the occasional sighing moan she let out. He felt so comfortable and sated that his eyes grew heavy and sleepy. It would be easy to drift off to sleep like this.

But they were still outside amidst whatever might be lurking in the woods after dark, and not to mention the temperature that was still dropping. His overheated body was quickly beginning to cool, and he let out a little shiver.

James reached over for a discarded blanket. He knew they would have to move inside soon, but his lethargic body protested any movement at all. So instead, he draped the blanket on top of Rose and tucked it snugly around them as continued to watch one of the most beautiful natural lightshows on Earth while he held his wife, soulmate, and best friend in his arms.


	9. A Parent's Worst Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Rose experience their worst panic yet of parenthood when the dresser Ainsley had been climbing falls on top of her.
> 
> This scene was mentioned in the epilogue of And Baby Makes Three.
> 
> Outtake Rating: Teen (for mentions of blood)

James and Rose were clearing up dishes from breakfast when they heard it: a loud, clattering crash followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

They both dropped what was in their hands and turned on their heels to sprint towards the sound.

_ No, please, please, please, no _ , James begged. His legs felt like lead and it was like one of those dreams where he was running through water, trying so hard to move forward but gaining no ground. Finally, he made it into his bedroom and his heart stopped when he spotted the toppled dresser and the two little feet sticking out from under it.

The feet were flailing and Ainsley was screaming, and it was like no sound James had ever heard before.

Rose let out a shriek, but he was too busy running up to the dresser, desperate to get to his daughter.

“Ainsley! Please, Ainsley!” he cried, trying to lift up the furniture from where it was precariously leaning against the bed. But as he tried to lift it, it slipped closer to the floor, and Ainsley let out a another wail. “Rose, help me!”

She was there immediately, with her red, puffy face and panicked eyes.

“Brace this,” he ordered. He waited until her hands had replaced his on the dresser, then he vaulted over the fallen furniture to the other side to help lift it. “Okay, push!”

Together, they managed to lift the dresser off their still-bawling daughter, and they both dropped to the floor. James felt like he could be sick when he saw all of the blood on Ainsley’s face. It was all over her eyes, nose, and chin, and James couldn’t make out where it was coming from.

He made to scoop her into his arms, but Rose got there first. A swell of irrational anger arose in him—he wanted to be holding their daughter, soothing her, caring for her, checking to see where all the blood was coming from—but as soon as his anger appeared, it disappeared as he saw Rose choking back her sobs while she checked Ainsley over.

James stripped off his t-shirt and used it to gently blot at Ainsley’s face to clear off the blood, and it was then that he saw the large, bruised gash splitting her forehead. He also saw her mouth was filled with blood, and that she was missing a tooth.

“Let’s get her to the hospital,” James said faintly, handing his shirt to Rose so she could hold it to her profusely-bleeding head. “C’mon.”

After putting on a new shirt, James ushered them both to the car and got Rose and Ainsley settled in the back seat as quickly as he could before speeding to the A&E.

Blessedly, the doctors were able to see Ainsley immediately. She had quieted on the drive over, and was sitting in Rose’s arms looking drowsy and sleepy.

They were assured that she didn’t have a concussion or any broken bones, and that it was a simple matter of stitching up her forehead, and then they could be on their way.

Ainsley was not pleased with getting stitches. She screeched and thrashed as the doctor stood over her and rubbed an antiseptic across her cut and began sewing it shut.

James’s heart broke with each of her screams, and he wanted to take her into his arms and cuddle her close and tell her that everything would be okay. And he wanted to tell her how sorry he was for taking his eyes off of her for so long that she even had the time to climb up Rose’s dresser and hurt herself. He felt like such a failure; what sort of father let his daughter injure herself severely enough to need a trip to the hospital for stitches?

“And done!” the doctor cooed, pulling away from a crying Ainsley.

Rose brought Ainsley to her shoulder for kisses and cuddles, which Ainsley gladly took. She sobbed into Rose’s neck and clung tightly to her. James rubbed his hand up and down Ainsley’s back as he mindlessly thanked the doctor, and he reached out to help Rose stand as he guided them out of the hospital.

The drive home was silent, save for Ainsley chattering to herself in the back seat every now and then, apparently over her prior distress.

When they got home, James wouldn’t have guessed that his daughter just had six stitches put into her head, with the way she was running around the living room and playing with her toys.

James felt on edge and lightheaded as he perched on the couch and kept his eyes trained on his daughter as she ran around the living room. He never wanted to let her out of his sight again.

She could have been seriously injured by that dresser. The mattress took the brunt of the furniture’s weight, but what if it hadn’t fallen towards the bed? What if she had decided to try to climb his dresser instead? What if it had toppled right on top of her and crushed her and—

“Breathe, love.”

Rose sat down beside him and took his hand in hers, and James finally realized how tight his chest felt. He sucked in a sharp breath, but it didn’t seem to help. His vision was warping and his lungs were aching for air, but he couldn’t seem to catch his breath.

“James, look at me,” Rose said, moving to squat in front of him. “Look at me. Breathe.” She took his hand and set it on her chest, and James felt the steady beat of her heart and the rise and fall of her chest, which was much slower than his own. “Breathe with me. Breathe.”

After about a minute, James felt the pressure in his chest lessen and his vision didn’t seem so spotty. He breathed with Rose for a few seconds, before he remembered why he’d had a panic attack in the first place, and he felt his lungs hitch again.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Rose said gently, reaching up to cradle his cheeks. “Keep breathing, James.”

“She could have died!” he whimpered, his fear swelling up inside of him with the force of a tsunami. “Rose! She could’ve  _ died! _ ”

“She didn’t,” Rose said firmly, and she turned his head to the corner of the room, where Ainsley was stacking and unstacking colorful rings on a peg. “She’s fine, James.”

“But—”

“No, don’t,” Rose growled. “Don’t do that. She is fine and okay and home with us. She’s safe.”

“I didn’t keep her safe,” he whispered miserably. “I’m supposed to… I’ve got one job as her dad, and I  _ failed! _ ”

“James, accidents happen,” Rose murmured, rubbing her thumbs across his cheeks. “It was just an accident. It wasn’t your fault. She wasn’t seriously injured, and now we know to close our bedroom door, and make sure we encourage her to climb on safer furniture. Don’t dwell on the what-ifs, James. Just don’t.”

“I was so scared,” he said, rubbing his fingers into his eyes.

“So was I,” Rose said. “C’mon. I know what you need. C’mon. To the floor.”

James let Rose drag him onto the floor, and they both crawled up to Ainsley, who was still stacking rings.

“Hiya, sweetheart,” Rose said. “What are you doing?”

“Fun,” she replied, grinning at them both. 

She reached out towards them with a ring, and stretched to try to balance it on top of their heads. She was a little too short to reach, sitting down as she was, so she scrambled onto her knees and then her feet, first turning to James. Her little brow furrowed in concentration as she set the ring on top of his head, but she misjudged the angle, and it slipped off. She was still amused by it, and she giggled before she turned and did the same to Rose.

For a few minutes, she tried balancing the rings on each of their heads, but she soon grew bored of the game, and she toddled off to the bookshelf. She bent down and started tugging at her pile of books until they all fell out around her feet. She picked one up and brought it back to James.

“Daddy,” she said, handing him the book. She stepped up in front of him and plopped into his lap. She wriggled around until she was comfy, and James wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

“I love you, darling,” he whispered into her hair, closing his eyes against his lingering fear and panic as he focused on the warm weight of his daughter in his arms. “I love you so much.”

“Daddy,” she said again, looking up at him. She smiled, showing off the new gap where her front tooth used to be.

“All right, darling,” he said. “Can we move this to the sofa? Daddy’s bum is getting numb.”

“Bum,” she said,  “Bum bum bum bum bum.”

“Great, pick up on that word, eh,” James grumbled, pushing himself to his feet while keeping Ainsley in his arms. 

He sat down on the sofa and waited for Ainsley to find a new comfortable position. She finally situated herself so she was sideways in his lap. Her back was to the armrest and she was leaning up against his chest with her legs sprawled out in front of her.

“Comfy?” James asked, smoothing her hair back from her forehead, and taking great care to not touch her stitches.

“Read,” she commanded, nuzzling her cheek into his chest.

“As you wish,” he whispered.

He leaned down to peck a kiss to her hair as he opened the book and began reading Ainsley’s favorite rhyming book to her.


	10. James vs. the Sun, Round Two (nsfw)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose helps James remember to put sunscreen on to keep him from getting burnt like their last outing to the beach. 
> 
> This takes place at the beginning of chapter 1 of And Baby Makes Four when I allude to James and Rose taking a few weekends away by themselves.
> 
> Outtake Rating: Explicit

“Love, remember to put sunscreen on.”

James stuck his tongue out at his wife, as he was already in the middle of rubbing more sunscreen into his pale skin.

“Oh, yes, very helpful,” James drawled.

Rose smiled sweetly at him, and took the tube of sunscreen from him to get his back. She worked her hands across the planes of his back, giving him an impromptu massage. He relaxed into her touch, then squeaked when she suddenly dropped her hands beneath the waistband of his swim trunks to grab his arse.

“Rose!” he yelped, even though she’d already let go and was back to rubbing the lotion into his lower back.

“Yes?” she asked innocently.

James chuckled at the absurdity, his heart swelling with fondness for his wife.

“We are in public,” he reminded, trying to keep his voice stern.

“Oh, no one’s paying us any attention,” Rose said breezily as she dropped to her knees to rub sunscreen onto his legs.

More than once, Rose trailed her hands further up his thigh than necessary, flashing him an impish grin every time she did so.

“You are going to be the death of me,” James croaked when she finally stood up.

“Oh, you love it,” she said, smirking.

James grinned. “Yeah, I do.”

All throughout their day at the beach, Rose randomly came up to him and start rubbing sunscreen into his skin, no matter if he’d just applied it fifteen minutes ago, or if he was sitting in the shade, or if he was floating in the water.

He spluttered and flailed when Rose had surprised him by tickling her fingers across his lower stomach, tugging his swim trunks down to almost an indecent level to rub sunscreen into his skin.

“Don’t want that tummy burning,” she said with a tongue-touched grin as James attempted to continue floating on his back without attracting the attention of other couples and families at the beach. “It would be a shame if we couldn’t follow through with any of our plans for the weekend because you’re laid up in bed with sunburn like you were last time.”

“I’m sure my hips are quite covered by my swimsuit,” he squeaked as she stuck her hand down his trunks.

“Not now they aren’t,” Rose said, glancing down as his hip bones peeked out from his waistband.

“You minx,” he growled, flailing to his feet to tug her tight against him.

“Your minx,” she replied with a wink. “Enjoying our beach day?”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she pressed their bodies close together. He hummed in pleasure as he felt her skin sliding against his, and as her thigh slipped between his legs. He clenched his fingertips tight into her hips as she brushed against his cock, which was quickly responding to her touch.

“Rose, we’re in public,” he protested weakly, even as he wished she would continue.

He glanced around, but nobody else was paying them any mind, so he relaxed against her and allowed himself to enjoy her touch. He wrapped his arms around her waist and settled his hands against her bum as he held her tight to him. Giving her arse a firm squeeze, James ducked his head down to catch her lips in a kiss.

Her fingers dug into his hair and her nails scratched at his scalp as she parted her lips for him, encouraging him to plunge his tongue into her mouth. She sighed into his mouth and her body rocked against his as his tongue explored the familiar territory. He flicked the tip of his tongue against the roof of her mouth before he pulled back and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth. The sounds of her gasps of pleasure sent a hot ache deep in his stomach, and he unconsciously began to rut himself against her to alleviate the throbbing in his cock.

He moaned long and low when Rose popped her mouth away from his to scrape her teeth down his jaw and to his neck. She rested her weight on her forearms as she lifted her legs to wrap around his hips. They balanced easily, the water holding most of her weight, and it felt so bloody good to have Rose wrapped around him so intimately.

She whimpered against his skin as she rubbed herself against his erection, and the sound coiled itself low in his stomach.

“Wait, Rose,” he rasped. He reached down and pushed against her hips, even as his body screamed at him to pull her tight against him once more and give himself the friction he needed. “Stop, love. Stop. Can we… can we take this back to our room? Please? I want you so much right now, but I don’t want the whole beach to see us making love.”

Rose nodded and she raked her fingers through her hair as she breathed deeply for a few long seconds.

“Yeah,” she said hoarsely. “Yeah, let’s go.”

James’s ears felt hot as Rose moved to swim to shore.

“Ehm, I’ll join you in just a minute,” he mumbled, willing his erection away faster.

Rose furrowed her brows for just a moment before a wicked grin crossed her face.

“Right, well I’ll pack up our stuff,” Rose said with a giggle. “Join me when you can.”

James watched her swim off, and he tried to not watch the flex and pull of her muscles or the roundness of her bum, because that was certainly not helping his erection. He groaned in frustration as he tried to clear his mind and forget the delicious way his wife had just been wrapped around him, holding him and kissing him and touching him…

“Fuck,” he grumbled, rubbing his fingers into his eyes.

It took a few minutes, but the throbbing in his pants finally dulled to a light ache, and while his erection wasn’t completely gone, it would have to do. He made his way to shore, where Rose was waiting with all of their things packed up.

“Took you long enough,” she teased. “I was about to go back to our room and get started without you.”

James rolled his eyes and picked up one of the bags, holding it in front of his hips to hide the semi hard-on he was still sporting. Rose caught his eye, and she bit her lip as her eyes glittered with amusement.

“Let’s go back to our hotel, shall we?” James said, holding out his hand for her.

The walk back to their room seemed to take hours, but they eventually made it.

As soon as their door clicked shut, James dropped their bags and turned on his wife. She shrieked out a laugh as James backed her against the doorway, but her laugh died on a moan as he dropped his mouth to her neck. He sucked at her skin, tasting the salt of the sea and the tang of her sunscreen.

“God, Rose,” he groaned against her, nipping and kissing at the join of her neck and shoulders. “I was so bloody hard for you.”

“Was?” she gasped, and he grunted when he felt her palm him through his trunks. “You  _are_  hard for me.”

“Meant earlier,” he said, kissing his way across her collarbone to give his attention to the other side of her neck. “In the water. I was so close. I wanted to keep going.”

“Me too,” she murmured, tilting her head back against the door as he continued to kiss her.

Rose lifted one of her legs and wrapped his around his hips. She dug her heel into his arse, tugging him closer and rubbing across his erection so perfectly.

“Bloody hell, Rose,” he gasped.

He reached behind her and fumbled at the ties to her bikini top until they came undone. His fingers scrabbled at the fabric, trying to tug it off of her, but his motions were hindered as Rose kept her arms around his shoulders as she ground herself harder against him.

He gave up and let the fabric dangle off her arms as he reached up and palmed her breasts. She moaned loudly as he pinched her nipples and rolled her breasts around in his palms. He bit down harder than he’d planned as Rose stuck her hand down his swim trunks and took his cock in her hand.

“S-sorry,” he said as he pulled back to check the damage. The skin was bright red and splotchy with fresh teeth marks.

“Doesn’t matter,” she gasped, and James had to agree when she started stroking him firmly.

He rested his forehead against her shoulder and slammed his eyes shut as her thumb rubbed across the tip of his cock on every upstroke.

Wanting to reciprocate, James wormed a hand between the two of them and stuck it down the front of her bikini bottoms to where she was radiating heat.

“Oh, fuck, Rose,” he grunted as his fingers slipped effortlessly through her.

“Yeah,” she said, squeezing him tightly as he rubbed her clit. She then shoved his swim trunks down his legs far enough to reveal his erection. “In, James. Need you in me. Right now.”

James nodded, and he circled her clit a few more times before he removed his hand to help align them. He tugged her bikini bottoms to the side as Rose guided the tip of him into her.

“Shit, Rose,” he gasped as she thrust her hips against him, seating him inside of her in one movement.

“Fuck me, James,” she demanded.

“Up,” he growled, tapping on the thigh of the leg that was still on the ground. “I’ve got you.”

Rose nodded and she wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders as he pressed her closer to the wall. In a perfectly choreographed move, James helped Rose wrap both legs around his hips as he held her up.

They both moaned at the rush of pleasure as he slid deeper into her.

“Not gonna last long,” he warned as he began pumping his hips, slowly at first, then faster as Rose moved against him.

“Me either,” she assured, arching her back.

He groaned and buried his face into her neck as the pressure in his gut stretched tighter and tighter. Rose was surrounding him, with her legs wrapped around his hips and her arms hugging his shoulder, and he loved it.

He absently sucked at her neck as he focused on trying to bring her off.

“Touch yourself,” he bit out, feeling her begin to tremble with her oncoming release.

Rose’s breathing grew ragged as she moved an arm from around his neck to drop it to where they were joined.

“Fuck, James, this feels so good,” she moaned.

“Yeah it does,” he grunted. “I’m gonna come soon.”

“Way ahead of you,” she whimpered, and he felt her hand move harder and faster between them, and her muscles tightened around him.

His hips lost any rhythm they may have possessed as he worked for his own release as Rose found hers. She cried out in his ear and her body arched against him as her muscles clamped and released rhythmically around him. Her head banged against the door and her heels dug into his arse and her nails bit into his shoulders.

“Oh, fucking  _fuck_ ,” he growled, jerking his hips one, two, three more times against her before his release overcame him. He sucked in a sharp breath as the pressure inside him grew to unbearable levels, then rolled outwards in waves of white hot pleasure. He groaned lowly as he hugged Rose’s hips tightly to his, releasing himself deep inside her as overwhelming relief flooded his body.

His legs shook as his cock pulsed inside her, and he willed them to hold on for a few more seconds. He leaned heavily against Rose and the wall, feeling sated and exhausted.

“Put me down before you drop me,” Rose murmured in his ear, carding her fingers through his hair.

“I’d never drop you,” he replied, but he dutifully helped lower Rose to her feet.

He sank with her to the ground, uncaring that the floor was cold and hard underneath them.

Rose looked over at him, and she began giggling. James was about to ask what was so funny, but he noticed the way her bikini top was hanging off her shoulders and the bottoms were skewed and twisted around her hips, while his own swimsuit was hanging high on his thighs. They looked ridiculous.

He joined in her laughter, and he scooted closer to her to wrap his arms around her.

“I love you,” he chuckled into her ear.

“I love you, too,” she said, her voice warm and thick with love and pleasure. “So much, James.”

“Shall we get ourselves cleaned up?” he suggested, nuzzling his cheek into her hair. “We can go out for dinner. Then maybe tonight we can actually make it to the bed.”

“Complaining?” Rose asked sweetly.

“Never,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I love making love with you no matter the location or position.”

“I think that was more of a fucking than love making,” she teased.

James snorted. “Nah, it was both. That was just one of our more ardent love making sessions. But it’s always love making, no matter what, because there is no way anything we do together to express our love for each other can be something as trivial as ‘fucking’.”

Rose giggled against his chest, and the sound made him grin in reply.

“You’re a nutter,” she said fondly. She tilted her head up and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth.

He hummed and angled his head to the side to catch her lips head-on in a sweet, tender kiss.

“But I’m your nutter,” he murmured against her lips. Then he winced. “Your nutter’s bum is getting a little numb sitting like this, though.”

Rose pressed another kiss to his lips and whispered, “Race you to the shower,” before she pushed herself off the floor and sprinted off to the bathroom, leaving James laughing on the floor, completely and utterly in love with his wife.


	11. A Parent's Worst Fear, Round Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James turned his back for just a second, but it was long enough for Ainsley to try to share her cereal with her baby sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during the epilogue of And Baby Makes Four.
> 
> Chapter Rating: Teen

“Daddy! Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy!”

James dropped the pan into the sink and grabbed a towel to dry his hands as he turned around at Ainsley’s frantic cry. His heart stopped at the scene in front of him. Sianin was sitting in her high chair with a little pile of what James recognized as Ainsley’s cereal in front of her on her tray. Her arms were flailing and her face was pinched in a cry but no sounds were coming out of her mouth, and her chest was heaving as she tried to gasp in a breath.

“What happened?” he shouted. He rushed up to Sianin and yanked her out of her chair before he began smacking her on the back. “Ainsley, what happened?!”

“I was sharing my cereal!” she sobbed.

James felt dizzy and his ears were ringing as he continued working to help his daughter breathe. He flipped her so that her belly was against his forearm and he angled her body slightly downwards, hoping gravity would help him as he continued to beat his hand against Sianin’s back.

“C’mon, darling,” he growled, hitting her harder to dislodge what she was choking on. But she still wasn’t breathing and when he flipped her over again to look at her, he saw her cheeks were bright red but her lips were turning pale blue. “Oh, Christ! Fuck! Please, no. Please, please, please!”

He begged to any higher power that may be listening to save his baby, or to help him save her.

“Sianin, breathe! Please breathe. Oh, God, don’t do this to me. Please, darling!” he cried, his eyes burning with tears of fear and frustration.

He saw her eyes were beginning to roll back into her head as her eyelids drooped. James’s heart was a heavy weight in his stomach as his baby began to lose consciousness and go limp in his arms. She was dying in his arms. She trusted him implicitly to keep her safe, and yet she was dying in his arms…

He stuck his fingers into her mouth and pried her jaw open, hoping he could see what was blocking her airways. A small, white, circular object was in the back of her throat. He stuck his pinkie into the back of her mouth and when his fingertip touched against something hard and slimy, he frantically scooped at it.

It moved, and he heard Sianin gasp in a breath. He flipped her over and pounded on her back once more. She gave a great cough as she spat out the chunk of cereal in her mouth, then she began screaming.

“Oh, God,” he gasped. His knees shook with relief and he collapsed onto a chair, bringing Sianin to his shoulder for a hug. “Oh, God, thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. Oh, God. Shh, darling, shh. Daddy’s got you. Daddy’s here. You’re safe, my darling, you’re safe. You’re all right. Oh, God, you’re all right. I love you so much. Yes, I do. Daddy loves you so much. I’m here. You’re safe. You’re safe.”

He continued repeating his mantra as tears fell down his cheeks. He nuzzled his nose into Sianin’s hair as he rejoiced in the feeling of his baby squirming in his arms and the sound of her crying into his ear.

But another cry was also in the room, and he opened his eyes and saw Ainsley sniffling on her chair, with tear streaks and snot covering her face.

A fierce, righteous anger—an anger hotter than he’d ever felt before—welled up inside of him, and he wanted to scream at Ainsley that she very nearly killed her sister, but he forced it down just in time. Yelling at his almost-four-year-old wouldn’t help anything, not when she was already so obviously distressed.

He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, held it in for a few seconds, then let it out again.

“Ainsley, come here, darling,” he said softly. He opened an arm, and Ainsley flew into it. She scrambled into his lap, and she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder as she began to cry in earnest.

“I’m sorry!” she wailed, her shoulders shaking. “I’m sorry, Daddy! I’m sorry!”

“I know,” he whispered, rocking her gently. “I know you are, darling.” He pressed a kiss to her hair, then pulled back to look at her. “But Ainsley, you  _cannot_  give Sianin your food. She’s a baby. She can’t eat big girl food yet. She’s only used to Mummy’s milk and soft foods. She barely has any teeth to chew, and she has never eaten anything crunchy.”

“I wanted to share,” Ainsley whimpered.

“I know,” he said, stroking his fingers through Ainsley’s hair. “And I’m so happy you wanted to share with your sister. But Ainsley, she could have been seriously harmed. Promise me that you won’t share any more of your food with her until Mummy or I tell you it’s okay. Promise me.”

“I promise,” Ainsley said with a sniffle. “I’m sorry Daddy.”

“I know you are,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. He reached across the table for a napkin, and he used it to blot at Ainsley’s eyes and nose.

When her face was relatively clean, Ainsley shifted on his lap until her head was closer to Sianin’s.

“I’m sorry, Sianin,” Ainsley whispered, resting her hand on the baby’s back. “I won’t share my food ‘til Mummy and Daddy say I can. I love you.”

James pressed his lips to both Ainsley and Sianin’s hair as he tried to calm his racing heart. He’d been so close to losing his little girl. Another few minutes… If he couldn’t get her breathing… Or if Ainsley hadn’t recognized something was wrong…

James clenched his jaw and swallowed thickly. Rose never should have left him alone with their kids.

But as soon as he thought that, he was overcome with guilt.

Rose had been having a hard enough time as it was without him adding to it. She deserved to have a day to herself.

But she had trusted him to take care of their daughters, and he had very nearly failed. How would he ever have explained to Rose that he held their daughter in his arms as she choked to death, and he hadn’t even had the wherewithal to phone for an ambulance. How could he have looked her in the eye day in and day out and still live with himself. How could she ever live with him after what he had done. Oh, God, she probably would have taken Ainsley away from him and left him and he never would have seen his family again…

_No,_  he told himself firmly.  _No, no, no. Don’t dwell in the what-ifs. Don’t. Don’t do it. My daughters are safe and healthy. No more what-ifs_.

“How about we take a walk to the park?” James suggested to distract himself from his dark and spiraling thoughts.

“Okay!” Ainsley said enthusiastically. “I’ll get my coat!”

James bundled his girls up and enjoyed the rest of the morning outside in the cool, crisp, October air.

There were no other incidents that day, and James had half a mind not to tell Rose about the panic-riddled five minutes of his morning. But then Sianin spluttered and coughed a little while he was feeding her her evening bottle.

“Oh, Jesus,” he whimpered, dropping the bottle to the side. He was shaking as he brought Sianin to his shoulder and smacked her on the back, even as she began screaming and crying in his ear.

“James, stop,” Rose said. She reached out and grabbed the hand that was beating against their baby’s back, and she gave it a squeeze. “What are you doing?”

“She’s not breathing,” he said helplessly, his mind’s eye showing him his blue-lipped baby.

Rose furrowed her brows. “James, look at her. She’s breathing. She’s fine. A bit of milk must’ve gone down the wrong pipe, is all. What’s the matter?”

“I…” He looked up at her, then over as Sianin who was writhing angrily in his arms, and he felt his cheeks burn. “Can you finish up?”

He stood up and passed the baby to his wife, and handed her the bottle he had dropped before he stalked out of the nursery and to the master bedroom.

Despite the earliness of the hour, James began getting himself ready for bed. He washed his face and brushed his teeth and put on clean pants and a t-shirt, and when he stepped back into the bedroom, Rose was perched on the edge of the bed.

Her face was drawn tight as she asked, “Want to tell me what the hell just happened?”

James turned away from her. He couldn’t bear to see the look on her face when he told her about that morning.

The words tumbled without pause from his lips until he told her everything.

By the time he’d finished, tears had fallen down his cheeks and Rose had gotten up off the bed and had wrapped him in a tight hug. He clung to her and shuddered as he tried to compose himself

“Our baby almost died and it would’ve been my fault!” he cried, still feeling the raw terror bleeding through from his memories. “My fault!”

“No, love,” Rose said gently, stroking her fingers up and down his back. “Nothing happened. She’s fine. Everyone is fine. You helped her, James. You saved her. She is perfectly healthy.”

“What if I’d—”

“James, what am I always telling you?” Rose asked, pulling back to look at him.

She cradled his cheeks in her hands, and she swiped at his fallen tears with her thumbs.

“Don’t dwell in the what-ifs,” he answered softly.

“Exactly,” Rose said. “Just don’t. Everything is fine now. And I know you were scared, and I know that when you’re scared, your brain gets the best of you and it tells you all the ways it could’ve gone wrong. I know that. But please, love, you’re already hurting so much, and you already feel so guilty. Please don’t add fictitious guilts to your burden.”

James sighed, and nodded.

“Let’s lay down,” Rose suggested, stripping down to her knickers and a t-shirt.

He followed her into bed and when Rose opened up her arms for him, he cuddled into them. He draped a leg over hers and wrapped his arm around her waist and rested his head against her chest, content on taking the comfort she was offering.

“I feel like a failure,” he murmured in the dark after a few silent minutes.

“How?” she whispered, stroking her fingers through his hair.

“I’m their daddy. I’m supposed to keep them both healthy and safe. But I turned my back for just a second and I almost lost my baby,” he whispered. “I’d never felt so helpless. Or more useless.”

“I know,” Rose whispered, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “I know, and I’m sorry. But believe me when I tell you that you are the best daddy anyone could ever want. Our girls are so lucky to have you as their father, James. Just as I’m so lucky to have you as my husband and my soulmate.”

James smiled against her chest, unable to help the warm feeling in his chest at her praise.

“And I’m lucky to have you as mine,” he said, nuzzling closer.

She pressed a firm kiss to the top of his head, then asked, “Are you feeling a little better?”

“A little,” he said. “I think it’s going to take a little more time for me to be completely okay again. Like how it took me until Ainsley’s head healed after that dresser fell on top of her. Can you be patient with me while I process my way through this?”

“Of course, love,” she replied. “That’s what I’m here for.”

James drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to get his body to relax and his brain to let go of all of his lingering anxieties.

He hummed when he felt Rose’s fingers in his hair, rubbing away the tension headache that had built up over the course of the day.

“I love you,” she whispered. “Ainsley loves you. Sianin loves you.”

“I love you, too,” he murmured. “I love you all so much.”

Rose continued playing with his hair and massaging his scalp until James eventually felt his muscles unclench and he was able to drift off to sleep.


	12. "Daddy, am I pretty?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Outtake Rating: All Ages
> 
> This takes place somewhere in the middle of the epilogue of And Baby Makes Four.

The house was quiet when James got home, which was a little disconcerting. The living room was tidy, but empty, as was the kitchen. Frowning, James wandered down the hall and to the master bedroom.

He smiled when he stepped into the room. Rose was lying in bed with Sianin, and they were both asleep. Rose was on her side with one arm stuffed under her pillow and the other draped around Sianin. The baby was snoring softly and her cheek was smushed against Rose’s chest.

They both looked so beautiful. He took his phone from his pocket and snapped a few photos of them to preserve the memory, before he turned to the en suite. The door was shut, but James heard movement from inside, and he knew where is four year old was.

He opened the door and stopped short at the scene that greeted him. Rose’s make up was sprawled all over the vanity, with tubes and palettes and brushes and powder everywhere.

“Hi Daddy!” Ainsley whisper-screamed. “Mummy’s sleeping, and so is Sianin.”

“Yeah, I saw,” he said, leaning against the doorframe as he tried to stifle a smile.

Ainsley’s face and shirt were completely covered in makeup. She’d drawn lipstick around her mouth until her chin and entire upper lip were completely red. She’d tried to put on eyeliner but it was just thick, black circles beneath her eyes and into her eyebrows. It looked like she filled in every other inch of skin on her face with eye shadow, and her cheeks, forehead, and nose were various shades of all of Ainsley’s favorite colors.

“I see you go into Mummy’s makeup,” James said, amused.

“Uh huh!” Ainsley said excitedly. She looked at herself in the mirror and she frowned. “I didn’t do it right.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Mummy looks so pretty,” Ainsley said with a sigh. She looked at herself again, then turned to James and asked, “Daddy, am I pretty?”

“Of course you are,” James said. “You are the prettiest four year old in the whole wide universe.”

“Am I as pretty as Mummy?” she asked.

James stepped into the en suite and crouched down beside his daughter. “You and Mummy are two of the prettiest girls I know.”

“Really?” Ainsley asked.

“Really,” he said firmly. “Even without makeup, you two are absolutely beautiful.”

Ainsley smiled toothily at him and said, “Thank you, Daddy.”

“Do you want some help washing the makeup off?” James asked.

“Yeah. I tried water, but it doesn’t work good,” Ainsley said, gesturing to the make-up smudged flannel.

“Mummy has some makeup remover,” James said. He took his phone from his pocket again then said, “But first, smile!”

Ainsley struck a pose and giggled at him.

He then lifted Ainsley up and set her on the vanity before he looked for Rose’s makeup wipes. But before he found them, he heard rustling from the bedroom. He glanced through the open door and saw Rose sitting up in bed.

“Hello sleepyhead,” he called softly. 

“Blimey, you’re home already?” Rose yawned, rubbing her fists into her eyes.

“Yeah, just a few moments ago,” he said.

“Hiya, Mummy! I’m pretty like you!”

James bit his lip around a grin as Ainsley hopped down from the vanity and skipped up to Rose. Rose blinked for a minute, before she smiled and said, “Nah, you’re even prettier than me!”

“Nope, no one’s prettier than you, Mummy,” Ainsley said solemnly. 

“Aw, thank you sweetheart,” Rose said, shuffling out of bed to give Ainsley a hug. “I still think you’re prettier, though. Do you want some help getting the makeup off?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Daddy was gonna do it, but you do makeup better than him.”

“Well, this is just taking it off,” Rose said.

Ainsley cocked her head. “You’re still better.”

“Oh, thanks, darling,” James said dryly.

Ainsley smiled sheepishly. “You make better cake than Mummy.”

James couldn’t help but laugh at Ainsley four-year-old logic and attempt at cheering him up.

“I guess I’ll take what I can get,” he teased, bending down to press a kiss to Ainsley’s hair.

He lifted Ainsley back onto the vanity for Rose, then went back into the bedroom to pick up a still-sleeping Sianin. He cradled his eleven-month-old to his chest, hoping she would stay asleep, and as he left, he heard Rose promise to show Ainsley exactly how she applied her make-up.

“Because I want to do it just like you, Mummy,” Ainsley said.


	13. Morning Routine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we get a glimpse of domestics within the Tyler-McCrimmon household.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Outtake Rating: All Ages
> 
> This takes place after the epilogue of And Baby Makes Four (and within the next story in the series, but that isn't out yet).

Rose awoke to soft tapping against her shoulder. She opened her eyes and blinked to focus on the dark room, and she finally saw Ainsley standing there, sniffling.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, sitting up immediately.

“I had a bad dream,” she whispered, rubbing her hand across her nose. “Can I sleep with you and Daddy?”

“Of course,” Rose said.

She glanced back and saw James was still asleep. He was on his back with one hand shoved under his pillow and the other resting on his stomach. She scooted towards him to make room for their daughter, and he snuffled when Rose pressed up against him.

He half-opened his eyes and gave her a sleepy smile before he rolled onto his side and nuzzled his face against her shoulder. He then let out a soft snore and went back to sleep.

“Here we go,” Rose said, patting the mattress.

Ainsley clambered in and tucked herself into Rose’s side.

“Want to tell me what your dream was about?” Rose asked, tugging the duvet up to Ainsley chin.

“I don’t remember,” she said. “But it was scary.”

“Yeah, those kinds are the worst,” Rose said.

“You mean you have bad dreams too?” Ainsley asked.

Rose nodded. “Everyone has bad dreams sometimes.”

“Even Daddy?” she asked.

“Even Daddy,” Rose said, pressing a kiss to her daughter’s forehead. “I’m sorry you had a scary dream, sweetheart.”

Ainsley nuzzled closer to Rose, and she wrapped her arm around Ainsley.

“Go back to sleep,” Rose whispered, absently running her fingers through Ainsley’s hair. “I’ll be here to keep the bad dreams away.”

Rose never slept well when one of the kids slept in bed with her and James. She was always hyper-aware of them and she woke up at the slightest movement or sound, but she wouldn’t trade it for anything. There was something completely peaceful about looking over and seeing her child cuddled into her side, sleeping, and the gentle rise and fall of her chest and the way her eyelids fluttered.

Morning eventually dawned, and she felt James beginning to stir. She listened to him fiddle with his phone, presumably to turn his alarm off, and she turned her head to look at him.

“Morning,” she whispered, trying not to wake Ainsley.

“Morning,” he murmured with a small smile. He leaned over and pecked a kiss to her lips, before he pulled back and his gaze landed on Ainsley. “I see we’ve acquired a bedmate. I was wondering why you were on my side.”

“Can we really call it sides of the bed when we’re constantly invading each other’s?” Rose mused.

“Probably not,” he said, but he still was looking expectantly down at their daughter.

“She had a bad dream,” Rose answered.

James furrowed his brow. “About what?”

“She couldn’t remember. But she was scared enough that she was crying, so I let her sleep with us.”

“Quite right,” James said. He lay back down and cuddled closer to Rose.

“Don’t you have to get ready?” she asked, even as she opened her arm for James to nuzzle into.

“Not for another twelve minutes,” he said.

“Don’t fall back to sleep,” she warned when she saw he’d closed his eyes.

“’M still awake,” he mumbled, his voice going soft and thick. “Just resting my eyes.”

Rose giggled, but she kept a mental timer to wake him up in ten minutes. She played with his hair as he began breathing slowly as he fell into a shallow sleep.

Ten minutes later, Rose jostled him as she called his name. James groaned and buried his face into her neck.

“Ten more minutes,” he mumbled.

“You already had your ten minutes,” Rose said. “Come on. Up you get.”

“M’comfy.”

“I know, but you’re gonna be late. Go on. I’ll have breakfast ready for you when you get out of the shower,” Rose promised.

James huffed out a sigh, but rolled away from Rose.

Ainsley stirred as the bed shifted, and she burrowed closer to Rose’s chest. Rose absently stroked her daughter’s hair as she watched the flexing of muscles in James’s back as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He arched back and she heard his spine crackle, followed by a satisfied grunt.

The sound of James moving around their room and eventually turning on the shower awoke Ainsley completely. Rose watched her blink slowly, and then scoot closer.

“Good morning, Ainsley,” Rose said quietly.

Ainsley moaned and tugged the blankets closer to her, hiding her face, and making Rose laugh.

“It’s time to wake up, sweetheart,” she whispered. “A brand new day is waiting just for you.”

Ainsley peeked out from under the blankets, and Rose saw a sleepy smile brightening her eyes. Her heart swelled in her chest, as it always did whenever any of her family smiled at her, and she ducked down to pepper kisses across Ainsley’s face. Ainsley squirmed and giggled.

“Mummy, stop it!”

Rose relented with a final kiss to the crown of Ainsley’s head.

“Why don’t you go on and get dressed, then meet me in the kitchen and we can start making breakfast?” Rose suggested.

Ainsley nodded and rolled out of bed and ambled to her room.

Rose, meanwhile, tugged on a dressing gown and headed to the nursery to wake Sianin.

The two year old was still asleep, and Rose reached into the crib and set her hand on Sianin’s chest. As she rubbed slow circles into her chest, the baby inhaled deeply and let it out slowly.

“Good morning, my Sianin,” Rose whispered as Sianin finally began blinking. Her face scrunched like she was about to start crying, and she rubbed her fists into her eyes. “Here we go.”

Sianin whimpered as Rose lifted her out of her crib, and cradled her to her chest.

“You’re still quite sleepy, aren’t you?” Rose asked when she saw Sianin’s eyes were still bleary and the baby looked confused. “That’s okay. Let’s just sit here for a few minutes until you wake up, yeah?”

Rose sat down in the rocking chair in the corner, and she set Sianin on her lap and rocked slowly as she rubbed Sianin’s back. Rose closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the house as it woke up: the shower was still running; Ainsley had slammed a drawer of her dresser; Sianin was breathing quietly and sucking on her fingers.

“How are we doing?” Rose murmured, brushing her hand through Sianin’s hair. “Are you waking up? Are you ready to greet this lovely Thursday morning?”

Sianin just sighed and leaned closer to Rose’s chest.

It took another minute before Sianin tilted her head up and offered Rose a sleepy smile.

“Well hello there,” Rose said brightly, smiling back.

“Hi,” Sianin said.

“Shall we go to the kitchen and make some breakfast?” Rose asked.

“Make some breakfast,” Sianin parroted.

“Do you want to walk or do you want Mummy to carry you?”

“Carry you,” Sianin replied, moving to fist her hand in Rose’s dressing gown.

Rose nodded and stood, and perched Sianin on her hip before she headed to the kitchen. Ainsley was already there and concentrating on pouring herself a cup of milk.

“Ainsley!” Sianin squealed, bouncing in Rose’s arms.

Ainsley looked up and grinned.

“Morning Sianin! It’s breakfast time!”

“Breakfast time!”

Rose smiled at her girls, then she set Sianin in her high chair as Ainsley moved with her milk to the kitchen table to entertain her sister until breakfast was ready.

James entered the kitchen just as Rose finished putting the plates on the table. She watched as the girls greeted him and he greeted the girls, then she spun around to get her tea and his coffee.

“Ta, love,” he murmured, pecking a kiss to the top of her head before he sat down at his place at the table.

Rose scooted her chair closer to James’s and absently set her hand on his thigh as she ate. He hummed and switched his fork to his left hand as he covered her hand with his and gave her fingers a squeeze.

This was one of Rose’s favorite parts of her day, because there was no other way Rose would want to start her day than with her family.


	14. Baby Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sianin takes her first steps, and her mum and sister are there to support and encourage her.
> 
> This outtake takes place during the epilogue of And Baby Makes Four, but before James and Rose have that pregnancy scare.
> 
> Outtake Rating: All Ages

“Mummy! Mummy, come quick!”

While the phrase itself was a little panic-inducing, Rose took comfort in the fact that Ainsley sounded excited rather than scared or panicked, and so she took the time to chuck the last pair of jeans into the wash and start the load of laundry before following the sound of her daughter’s voice.

“No, no, Sianin, it’s okay!”

Rose stepped into the living room and saw Sianin clinging to the coffee table as Ainsley stood a few paces in front of her.

Her breath caught in her throat as she darted to the kitchen for her phone and reentered the living room, where Ainsley and Sianin were still in the same positions.

“Mummy, she’s gonna start walking, I know it,” Ainsley said.

“I think you might be right,” Rose said. She started recording a video as she crouched down and opened her arms wide for her daughter. “C’mere Sianin. Come to Mummy. You can do it.”

Sianin whined in distress as Ainsley backed away from her, and as Rose stayed several feet away.

“Mama!” she wailed, bouncing in agitation as she held tightly to the coffee table.

“I’m right here, sweetheart,” she soothed. “Do you want to come here and give Mummy a hug?”

“Come on, Sianin,” Ainsley said, skipping up to her baby sister.

When it looked like Ainsley was about to tug Sianin’s hands away from the table, Rose stopped her.

“No, no, Ainsley, let her do it herself,” Rose said gently. “This is scary for her. Let her try at her own speed.”

Ainsley nodded and stepped away again.

Rose held her breath as Sianin looked at her, then back to the table she was clinging to, then to Rose again.

“Come here, Sianin,” Rose cooed, stretching her arms out further. “It’s all right. Mummy’s here. Mummy’s got you.”

“Mama,” Sianin whimpered again. But she took a clumsy step towards Rose—still holding onto the table—and then another.

“You’re all right. You can do it,” Rose breathed. “Just a few more steps, sweetheart! You’re almost there.”

“Come on, Sianin!” Ainsley encouraged, backing up until she was right beside Rose.

Rose automatically wrapped an arm around Ainsley’s waist as she extender her other hand to Sianin. Sianin’s brow furrowed in concentration, and she walked in place for a few seconds, before she hurriedly let go of the table and took several rapid, clomping steps forward.

Rose saw how unwieldy her baby was, and so she let go of Ainsley to step forward just in time. Sianin’s eyes went wide and she began to pitch forward, but Rose snagged her before she could hit the carpet.

“Oh, well done!” she praised, lifting Sianin into the air and bringing her to her chest to press her lips to the baby’s hair. “That was wonderful! Who’s my big girl? You are!”

Sianin laughed happily as Rose continued showering her with praises and kisses, then she wriggled to be put down. Rose set her on her feet and held on until Sianin found her balance, then she let go again. Remembering her phone—and cringing when she realized how nauseatingly jerky the video would be for James—Rose pointed the camera at the baby as she attempted more steps.

Ainsley was Sianin’s new target, and she managed a few steps before her body tried to move faster than her legs, and she fell forward onto her belly.

“Uh oh!” Ainsley rushed up to her little sister, who looked like she was about to start crying. “That’s okay, Sianin. Let’s try again! Come on, up, up, up!”

Sianin looked over at Rose with big, wet eyes and a quivering bottom lip, as though looking to see if her mum thought her situation was cry-worthy.

“You’re doing so well,” Rose cooed. “Yes you are. You’re all right. Nothing to cry about, sweetheart.”

Sianin sniffled, but decided she was ultimately okay, and she stuck her bum into the air as she planted her hands on the floor and pushed herself to her feet again.

“Yay!” Ainsley clapped. “Let’s go play! Come on.”

Ainsley carefully walked backwards to the toy box, and Sianin followed on unsteady legs. But they made it safely to the toys, and Sianin decided she’d had enough walking, and she plopped heavily to the ground and grabbed one of her toys to chew on.

Rose finally stopped recording, and sighed, knowing James would be so upset for missing their baby’s first steps. Especially after he’d missed Ainsley’s, too.

She stepped up to her girls and pressed a kiss to their hair before she returned to the laundry she’d been in the middle of.

A few hours later, Rose heard the front door unlock and then open. Both girls were in her lap as they watched a movie, and they wriggled in excitement as James called out, “I’m home!”

“Daddy!”

“Dada!”

Ainsley vaulted off the couch and ran to the foyer to greet her dad, and Sianin bounced in Rose’s lap.

“Let’s go say hi to Daddy,” Rose whispered. “And maybe we can show him what you learned to do!”

“Hi Daddy! How was work?”

“Oh, all right, I guess,” he said. “I’d rather spend my Saturday with you, Mummy, and Sianin, but I needed to get stuff done. Did you have fun today with Mummy?”

James appeared in the living room with Ainsley on his hip, but he stopped short when he saw Rose crouching on the floor, steadying Sianin on her feet.

“Rose?” he asked, his face falling.

“Sorry, love,” she said with a grimace, then she turned her attentions to the wobbly baby. “Go get Daddy!”

“Dada!” she shrieked, and she bounced in place for a moment and lifted one foot repeatedly, before she planted it and took off at an uncoordinated sprint towards James.

“Oh, wow!” he said, his voice going high with false cheer. “Look at you!”

He stepped forward to catch the baby as she pitched forward, and he brought her to his chest. “What a smart girl! Are you walking? Already? You know, you could’ve waited ‘til Daddy got home to do that.”

Sianin giggled and dissolved into mostly-unintelligible babble, and she was content to be carried back to the couch to finish watching the movie.

Both girls fell asleep towards the end of the film, and James and Rose tucked each of them in to their respective beds for their afternoon nap before reconvening in the living room.

“How did I miss it?” James whined, plopping heavily onto the sofa. “Again! First Ainsley, now Sianin… We need to have another baby just so I can see their first steps.”

“Yeah, but you’d probably miss those, too, the rate you’re going,” Rose teased.

“I’ll quit work and be a stay-at-home dad,” James said.

“Just to see their first steps?” Rose giggled. “That seems a bit dramatic.”

“It’s just… the one time I go into work on a Saturday, I miss my baby’s first steps,” James said glumly.

“I know,” Rose murmured, draping her arm across the back of the couch to play with the hairs on the nape of his neck. “And I’m sorry. But James, love, does it really matter if you saw her first steps? Yeah, it’s a milestone, but she’s got millions more steps to take, and you’re going to be able to see those.”

James sighed again. “I suppose you’re right. I’m just a little annoyed, and a little jealous, I guess, that both you and Ainsley were here to watch them.”

“Here.” Rose rooted around for her phone and pulled up the video she took. “It’s a bit shaky, but you can at least catch the gist of it.”

James took it eagerly and hit ‘play’, and Rose watched his face melt into a gentle smile as Sianin popped up on the screen and Rose’s voice began talking. 

“Good thing you’re a photographer and not a videographer,” James drawled when he got to the part where Rose reached out to catch Sianin before she fell.

“Oi, shut up,” Rose said with a laugh, pinching his side. “Be nice, or I won’t make a recording next time.”

James hummed happily. “So… there will be a next time?”

Rose bit her lip. The struggles she and James had overcome after the birth of Sianin seemed to be a distant memory. But willfully entering a situation that might make those struggles resurface made her balk.

She loved her children. She loved them so much it lodged an ache in her chest. And surely she had enough room for a third child?

“Yeah, I think there will be,” Rose finally said. “Not now, and not anytime in the foreseeable future. But I think eventually, yeah.”

She still had some fears to work though, regarding another baby, but she felt confident that those fears would diminish enough that she would be ready for a new baby in a few years.

James seemed to agree. He grinned at her and set her phone to the side before he leaned over and pressed his lips gently to hers.

“Sounds like a plan,” he whispered against her mouth. “And I’ll refuse to let that baby out of my sight because, dammit, I am determined to watch one of my children take their first steps.”

Rose laughed at his overly-theatrical tone, and she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck to tug him in for a longer, firmer kiss.


	15. Power Outage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The power goes out unexpectedly in the middle of November, so the family must huddle together for warmth and find other ways to entertain themselves.
> 
> This is set in the middle of the epilogue of And Baby Makes Four. Ainsley has just turned 4, and Sianin is 8 months.
> 
> Outtake Rating: All Ages

“Right! Has everyone got their hot beverage of choice?”

“Got it, Daddy!”

Ainsley carefully set her mug of hot chocolate on the end table as she scrambled onto the couch and buried herself under the blankets.

The power had gone out unexpectedly that morning, and without the heating system to keep out the damp November chill, the family was soon donning layers and cuddling together to keep warm.

James had just gotten back from the local coffee house, laden down with hot drinks for his family.

“Perfect!” he said.

He watched Rose settle herself onto the couch with Sianin tucked into her arms, and he felt guilty as he saw goosebumps break out across Rose’s arm, exposed as it was so Sianin could feed from her breast.

When Rose was settled on the couch, he tucked a blanket around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He then sat down beside her and opened an arm for her, but Ainsley instead wriggled up beside him.

“When’s the power coming back?” she asked, curling up tight against him with her cup of cocoa.

“The power company said around midnight,” James said, “though I suspect it will be sooner. They always over estimate how long it takes.”

“It’s cold,” Ainsley said.

James reached under her armpits and hoisted her into his lap, and he tucked a blanket around the two of them.

“Lucky for you, Daddy has a bunch of extra heat to spare,” he said, blowing a raspberry into her neck.

“Does Daddy care to share with Mummy?” Rose asked lightly as Sianin continued to nurse.

“Always, my love,” he answered, and he opened an arm for his wife.

She scooted closer to him slowly, making sure not to disturb Sianin, and James felt her shiver when her bare arm came into contact with his side.

James reached over for yet another blanket, which he tossed over the four of them.

Despite the less-than-stellar circumstances, James felt nothing but love and gratitude for his family. Sure, he hadn’t expected to celebrate Ainsley’s birthday weekend freezing his nose off, but at least they were all together.

“I’m bored,” Ainsley said after a few silent minutes.

“Hmm, how could we pass the time?” Rose mused, idly stroking a finger across Sianin’s chubby cheek as she began to stop eating. “How about we all take turns telling a story?”

Ainsley eyes lit up. She loved playing pretend and making up new stories to tell her parents.

“Okay! Can I go first?”

Rose laughed and brought Sianin to her shoulder for a burp. The baby let out a satisfied sigh and nuzzled closer to Rose as she drifted off to sleep for her late afternoon nap.

“Is Daddy okay with you going first?”

Ainsley tilted her head back against James’s chest and pouted up at him.

“Please Daddy?”

“Oh, I suppose you can go first,” he said with an overly-dramatic put-out sigh.

Ainsley bounced and delight, and he watched her face screw up in thought. 

He smiled softly at his daughter, and then over at his wife and other daughter. Rose rested her head against his shoulder, and occasionally took sips from her pumpkin spice latte.

James couldn’t resist leaning over and planting a kiss to her forehead before he dutifully returned his attention to Ainsley as she began weaving together a story about a family of unicorns going pumpkin picking.


	16. Leaf Piles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ainsley finds out how much fun leaf piles are.
> 
> This is set shortly before the epilogue of And Baby Makes Three. Ainsley is almost 2.
> 
> Outtake Rating: All Ages

An excited shriek was all the warning Rose got before a little brown and purple blur came racing through the yard, and launched itself into the pile of leaves James had just raked.

She cringed as the leaves went fluttering through the air and then all across the lawn.

“Mummy, crunchy!”

All thoughts of James’s frustration exited her mind (she would help him rake up the mess later) when her daughter flashed her a toothy grin from the middle of the leaf pile.

“Crunchy crunchy crunchy!”

Ainsley squealed with laughter as she threw herself back into the dead leaf pile and rolled around in it.

“Mummy, play!” the almost two-year old demanded. “Play crunchy leaf! Crunch crunch crunch!”

Rose grinned and hunched down, stalking nearer and nearer before she dove forward and into the leaf pile with Ainsley.

“Gotcha!” she growled, tugging Ainsley close to her chest as she rolled onto her back.

Ainsley wriggled out of Rose’s grip, then flopped down on Rose again with her arms wide open as she repeated, “Gotcha!”

The toddler then stood up and pranced through the leaves, kicking them around and bending down to pick up an armful to toss onto Rose.

“My, my, what fun we’re having.”

Rose winced as sat up from the blanket of leaves Ainsley was burying her in. James was standing in front of them, smirking, with his rake on the ground by his feet. In his hands was Rose’s home camera, and a soft smile was on his lip.

“I’m sorry, love, she…”

But James shook his head at her apology.

“Nonsense,” he said. “Look at her.”

Ainsley was racing around the yard, chasing leaves and crunching them, and giggling madly all the while.

“Sure, she ruined a leaf pile, but God, Rose, look how happy she is,” he said.

Ainsley became aware of her father, and she raced up to him with an armful of leaves.

“Daddy! Leaf crunchy on Mummy!”

“Uh huh,” he said, crouching down to her height. “Are you burying Mummy in all the crunchy leaves?”

“Yeah,” Ainsley said, and she turned away and chucked the leaves on Rose’s legs. She continued to babble to herself, and James took the opportunity to scoop up more leaves and rain them down on his daughter.

She jumped up and down excitedly as her fat little hands reached up to catch the falling leaves.

Rose joined in the fun, and she sprang up from her bed of leaves to help James shower their daughter in leaves.

All thoughts of raking were gone from James and Rose’s mind as they instead spent the rest of the afternoon playing with their daughter.


	17. Scary Movie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ainsley accidentally turns the TV to a channel that's playing _The Shining_.
> 
> This takes place in the middle of the epilogue of And Baby Makes Four. Ainsley is almost 4, Sianin is 7 months.
> 
> Outtake Rating: Light Teen (for one swear word)

A shrieking sob interrupted Rose as she rinsed Sianin’s hair of shampoo. With her heart hammering in her throat, she grabbed Sianin out of the tub and wrapped her absently in a towel as she sprinted to the noise.

James came running from the kitchen and they both continued into the living room. Ainsley was sitting on the couch in a ball with her face buried in her knees as her hands covered her ears.

“Oh, shit,” James whispered, his face going pale. He picked up the television remote and abruptly turned off the TV, but not before Rose saw that  _The Shining_  had been playing. “Ainsley, darling, it’s okay. It’s all right. You’re okay. Come here. Daddy’s here. Daddy’s got you. You’re okay.”

Ainsley wailed but allowed James to pull her into his arms. She buried her face into his neck and Rose’s heart broke when she saw how much her daughter was shaking.

“I’m sorry,” James whispered, slowly rotating his torso back and forth to rock their almost-four-year-old. “I’m so sorry. Daddy should have queued up the film before getting the ice cream.”

Rose suddenly realized what had happened. Ainsley must have taken it upon herself to figure out how to get into Netflix, but had either chosen the wrong film, or turned the television to a channel that was playing the horror film.

A surge of anger burst through Rose, even though she knew it wasn’t James’s fault. But seeing how distressed Ainsley was made Rose want to be angry with someone, and James was the most available target.

But she knew he probably already hated himself for it.

“Everything’s okay, Ainsley,” he murmured, and Rose was pleased that Ainsley was just sniffling instead of sobbing. “I promise, everything’s okay. You’re fine, darling. That movie was really, really scary, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Ainsley whimpered. “I don’t like movies anymore!”

“Shh,” James soothed. “You just don’t like that particular movie. And that’s okay. Daddy doesn’t like it, either. It’s far too scary. But Disney! Disney’s great, eh? Nothing scary there! Just loads of brave and pretty princesses. But you know what?” James peppered kisses across Ainsley’s face when she peeked up at him. “None of them are as brave or as pretty as my Princess Ainsley.”

Rose breathed a sigh of relief (and saw James echo it) when Ainsley beamed at him.

“How about you come lay with me and Mummy in our bed?” James asked, giving Ainsley a tight squeeze. “We’ll watch movies all night, and we’ll eat ice cream, and have a great big cuddle.”

“Okay,” Ainsley said, resting her head against his shoulder. Her gaze wandered to Rose, and she asked, “Mummy, will you watch movies?”

“Absolutely,” she answered. She knew Ainsley would probably ask to sleep with them that night. Truthfully, she wanted to keep Ainsley with her that night just in case  _The Shining_  cropped up in her daughter’s dreams. 

But then she became aware of the cooing baby in her arms, who was still wet, naked, and slightly soapy.

“Mummy will come watch movies as soon as I finish giving Sianin a bath and putting her to bed,” Rose amended. “Why don’t you help Daddy get the ice cream, and I’ll meet you in bed soon.”

Ainsley’s mood brightened somewhat, but Rose didn’t miss the way she tightened her arms and legs around James when he went to set her on her feet.

Rose stepped up and pressed a lingering kiss to Ainsley’s hair.

“I love you so much, Ainsley,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry you got scared.”

Rose watched her husband and daughter disappear into the kitchen before she returned to the bathroom.

As she refilled the baby’s tub with warm water, she made a mental note to discuss with James about getting parental control locks on the kid-unfriendly television channels.


	18. Knitting a Scarf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose knits James a scarf, and though it is far too long, he loves it anyway.
> 
> This takes place in the middle of Perfect Match, before James and Rose have met. He's 20, she's 14.
> 
> Outtake Rating: All Ages

Rose crowed in delight as she finally finished up the ending tassels. She set her knitting needles to the side and stood up from the sofa to check out the final product. It was a little loose in some places and some of the stripes weren’t perfectly parallel, but not bad considering she’d just begun learning to knit a few months ago.

She ran the length of the scarf through her hands, and her excitement faded when her fingers were met with more and more fabric. Sighing, she draped the scarf around her neck and was disheartened when both ends were bunched up on the floor. She looped the fabric around her neck once, then twice, then a third time. Finally the ends of the scarf dangled near her hips.

“Oh, you’ve finished!”

Jackie stepped into the room and smiled.

“Yeah,” Rose said forlornly.

Jackie’s brows furrowed. “What’s that tone for?”

“It’s too long,” Rose said softly, gesturing to the many loops of the scarf around her neck. “I guess I misjudged the dimensions. I’ll start ripping out the stitches tomorrow.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Jackie said gently. “Sure, it’s a bit longer than your average scarf, but you said that boy’s over six feet tall.”

Rose shrugged.

“Rose, sweetheart, from what you’ve told me about him, he would love anything you made for him,” Jackie said. “You could’ve made that scarf a foot long and he would’ve fawned over it as the most perfect scarf he’d ever seen.”

Rose finally cracked a grin. Yeah, that was her James. His endless enthusiasm for anything and everything was one of the things she loved best about him. It certainly eliminated most of her self-consciousness, knowing he loved everything he received from her.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Rose said. “Can you take me to the post office tomorrow so I can mail it? If I’m lucky, it’ll get there by his birthday.”

oOoOo

_Rose! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!_

Rose giggled at the message on her arm, and at her daft soulmate.

“You got your present, I take it?”

_Yes! And it is perfect! And beautiful! Oh! Did you make this?!_

“Yep!”

_You never told me you knitted!_

“It’s a surprise,” Rose said. “I just started learning over the summer. Rita-Anne taught me.”

_No way. There’s no way you’ve only just started learning to knit a few months ago. Rose, this is fantastic! It’s gorgeous!_

“It’s a bit long,” she said. “Sorry.”

_Are you kidding? That’s perfect! The temperatures are going to be below freezing soon. I can wrap it around my neck a few times to keep warm._

Rose felt warm and giddy that James seemed to love his gift, and she was glad she could send him something that wasn’t art or music. She knew he loved those gifts, but it was a nice change for her to be able to make something different.

“Oh, how rude of me! Happy Birthday, James! 20… you’re old.”

_Oh, gee, thanks, love. How kind of you._

“But I love you anyway,” she wrote.

_And I love you too xoxo._

A few days later, Rose received a letter in the mail. When she opened it up, she was delighted to see they were photographs of James as he modeled his new scarf. It still looked ridiculously long on him, but he was somehow able to pull it off.

He had taken pictures of himself around the MIT campus and the town he lived in, showcasing the beautiful autumn scenery. Rose’s heart squeezed with warmth and love as she looked at James’s beautiful, beaming face as he posed in front of trees of red and gold.

She smiled to herself. Just 1272 more days to go… 


	19. Matching Costumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose makes matching Halloween costumes for herself and James (and Ainsley.)
> 
> This takes place before the epilogue of And Baby Makes Three. Ainsley is almost a year old (and she's only just mention in this snippet).

“So… what do you think?”

Rose twirled around him theatrically, and the hem of her long, burgundy cloak billowed out behind her. When James had brought up his idea of what they could dress as for Halloween, Rose had been delighted, and she assured him that she could make them herself.

And now, presented with the matching quidditch robes, James had to admit she had done a perfect job. Her robes were burgundy and gold; his were navy and bronze. She had even embroidered the House crests onto the uniform, and James saw new House scarves peeking out of her bag.

“Oh! Wait ‘til you see this…” Rose turned around and grabbed a small, round, golden baby sack with white wings on the back. “For Ainsley.”

James couldn’t help but burst into giggles. “She’s our Snitch!”

“Indeed she is,” Rose said brightly. “For as long as she tolerates being in a sack, that is.”

James stepped up to his wife and pressed a firm kiss to her lips.

“You, my love, are the most brilliant woman in the whole universe,” he decreed. “And the most creative. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she replied, grinning into the kiss. “C’mon… try yours on to see how it fits.”


	20. Morning Shenanigans (nsfw)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James comes home to find Rose dressed in one of his flannel shirts, and nothing else.
> 
> Outtake Rating: Explicit

Autumn had overtaken summer with a vengeance, bringing temperatures that barely topped 10C by the first of October. They’d been loath to turn on the heat so soon into the autumn season, but they were wondering how much longer they could put it off.

James had gone out on an early morning coffee run, leaving Rose asleep in their bed and cocooned in all of their blankets. When he entered the flat with two pumpkin spice lattes and two muffins, he smelled the warm air and knew Rose had finally caved.

“Bit too cold for you, love?” he called out, hearing her moving around in the kitchen. “Don’t bother with breakfast, I’ve picked you up a…”

James’s words died on his tongue when he spotted his wife. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun with many strands tickling her cheeks and neck and the collar of the black and while flannel shirt that he recognized as his own. It was the only piece of clothing she was wearing.

His mouth went dry as he was given a delicious view of her legs, and he wanted to growl in frustration when her shirttails were hiding her bum. But his mind was able to supply him with plenty of source material, and the way her thighs curved into her arse, which melded into the dimples of her lower back, which was one of his favorite places to kiss.

He could feel his heartbeat throbbing behind the zip of his trousers, and it sharpened when he stopped ogling her shirt-covered bum and saw her smirking knowingly at him.

“See something you like?” she drawled, leaning back against the kitchen table.

She crossed her arms across her chest drawing his gaze to her breasts, which were peeking tantalizingly out from the third button, which was where she’d begun fastening the shirt closed. Her movements also caused the hem of her shirt to shift, and James whimpered in frustration when one meager inch was keeping him from seeing if Rose was wearing knickers or not.

He secretly hoped she wasn’t.

“I was just wondering why you’re wearing so few layers when you claimed to be cold,” he rasped, but he knew his stern tone fell flat with the utter need in his voice.

“Well if you’d like, I’ll just go put on some pants, shall I?” she asked innocently, thumbing behind her and towards the stairs that would lead to their bedroom.

“Oh, no need. We can think of something that’ll keep you warm,” he murmured.

He set the coffees and muffins on the counter as he stalked closer to where she was leaning against the table.

“You gonna share your body heat with me?” she asked breathlessly as he stepped right up against her and pressed his erection into her hip.

“Something like that.” He rested one hand on the back of her neck to pull her in for a hard kiss as his other hand trailed its way up her bare thigh and under the hem of her shirt and to her equally bare hip. He groaned. “God, Rose.”

“I had a really great dream last night,” she moaned against his mouth as he squeezed her arse. “But you weren’t here when I woke up.”

“I am never going for an early morning coffee run again,” he groaned as she fumbled between them for his zip. “Fuck, Rose, up. Get up. On the table.”

He felt her shiver against him before she complied and jumped up onto the table.

“Shit that’s cold!” she squealed.

“We’ll warm you up in just a minute,” he said, tugging his hard cock out of his boxers before he stepped up to her.

He gripped her hips and tugged her to the edge of the table. His cock brushed against her shirt, and he yanked open the bottom buttons to reveal her to his gaze.

“God, you look so sexy in my clothes,” he sighed, rutting against her as his fingers traced across her breasts.

“James, quit teasing,” she ordered, reaching out to stroke his erection.

“It’s only teasing if I don’t follow through,” he said, thrusting lightly into her hand as he let his fingers ghost down her belly and through her curls before he finally slipped a finger through her slippery folds.

She grunted against his neck as her hand faltered in her stroking.

“Hurry up and follow through,” she growled. “I’ve been horny since I woke up. Been waiting for you to get back for twenty minutes now.”

“I appreciate you waiting for me,” he murmured, slowly rubbing his fingertips around her swollen clit, making her whimper so deliciously.

He slowed his movements in concentration as Rose held the base of his cock and lined him up. He sighed in pleasure as he was enveloped in her hot, wet heat. Her muscles were tight around him, revealing just how turned on she was, and he was barely seated inside of her when she wrapped her legs around his hips and ground down on him in short, jerky movements.

“Shit,” she gasped, and James was surprised to feel her arch closer to him as her clit began to pulse lightly against his fingertips.

She closed her eyes and cried out as he rubbed tight circles against her clit, tipping her over in an early orgasm. He gently rocked his hips into her, enjoying the friction from her orgasm as he worked her though it.

A few long moments later, Rose opened her eyes and her cheeks stained dark red.

“That was bloody brilliant,” James crowed before she could apologize. “Blimey, you know how to make a bloke feel good about himself!”

Rose giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck and lazily drew him in for a kiss.

“Told you I was horny,” she mumbled, sucking his bottom lip into her mouth.

“Indeed,” he whispered, and he absently rubbed at the sides of her clit to hopefully work her back up to another orgasm before he found his release.

She hummed in pleasure and thrust gently against him as they explored the familiar territory of each other’s mouths. Their tongues moved across each other’s leisurely as their hands caressed any patch of skin they could reach.

James groaned lowly when Rose wriggled a hand between them to cup his balls and roll them gently in her palm.

Not wanting to rush her, but getting impatient to quench the hot coil of pleasure low in his gut, James slowly began to nibble his way down her jaw before he planted feather-light kisses to her neck. He then licked a stripe where her neck met her shoulder, before he pressed open-mouthed kisses to it, letting his teeth scrape across her skin.

He was rewarded with a low, shaky moan and a tightening of her fingers in his hair.

“Ready for round two?” he asked against her skin, putting a more direct touch on her clit.

She nodded wordlessly, her hair tickling his cheeks as he continued to lave at her neck.

He morphed the slow rocking of their hips into sharper thrusts that felt bloody brilliant and made Rose gasp on every inward thrust. He snapped his hips up, knowing just how to move to get Rose to make that high-pitched keen of pleasure he loved so much.

Pleasure sizzled to the base of his cock, making his movements more frenzied and desperate. His cock ached with heat and he wanted to grab her hips and thrust mindlessly until he came, but his pride and his desire to satisfy his wife kept him from losing it completely.

His lips, which had gone still against her neck as he focused on his pleasure, returned to their suckling kisses as he brought a hand up to her breasts to tweak her nipples.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” he rasped against her skin. “I love you so much, Rose. So, so much. More than I ever knew I could love someone.”

Rose’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, and her nails scraped across his back as her cries increased in pitch. The knowledge that he was going to eek a second orgasm out of Rose within ten minutes of her first sent a shiver down his spine and broke the pressure in his gut.

“Oh, fuck, Rose,” he whimpered into her neck as he frantically rubbed at her clit. He inhaled sharply and held his breath as he waited for his imminent release. “Oh, God. Rose!”

He cried out her name and thought he heard her echo his cry of ecstasy, but he could hardly hear anything through the roaring in his ears. Lights danced behind his eyes in time with his thundering pulse, and he gasped for breath as his body was consumed with the most pleasurable ache. It rocketed up his spine and across his scalp and made his legs feel weightless and wobbly.

When he cracked open his eyes, he saw through his swimming vision that Rose’s head was still thrown back and her jaw was clenched and her nostrils were flared as she was lost to her own orgasm.

He let out a sated sigh and burrowed his face into her neck and wrapped his arms loosely around her waist as he waited for the aftershocks of pleasure to abate.

“Love you,” he murmured when he felt Rose begin to trace random patterns against his back.

“Love you, too,” she replied, her voice low and thick. “God, that was fantastic. Thank you.”

“Of course. It was my pleasure. Quite literally.”

Rose snorted out a quiet laugh and nuzzled her cheek against his hair.

“The coffees are probably cold,” he mused, but he still couldn’t be bothered with moving out of her arms.

“Probably. Guess that’s why we’ve got that useful little invention called the microwave, for situations like this.”

“I doubt it was invented for situations exactly like this,” James said with a cheeky grin as he finally looked up at her.

Her cheeks were stained pink and her eyes were dark and hazy. She was beautiful.

“It’s what we seem to need it the most for,” she shot back, and she winced when James finally slipped out of her.

“Can’t argue with that,” James said, reaching behind her for napkins to clean them up with.

He tucked himself back into his pants and watched Rose shimmy off of the table and stumble forward a few steps.

“Bloody hell that was a great shag,” she said, arching back in a stretch.

“Indeed it was,” he agreed, though he thought every shag with Rose was a great shag. He stepped up to her and pecked a kiss to her lips. “Go on and get a shower. I’ll have breakfast ready when you get out.”

After he thoroughly cleaned the kitchen table, it was quick work to heat up their coffees and put the muffins on plates. Deciding to add a healthy option to their chocolate chip muffins, he rummaged through the fridge for fresh fruit.

He turned up his nose when he found a lone pear sitting amongst the apples. A quick squeeze of it told him it was going to be overripe soon, and so he added it to the fruit platter he made for him and Rose (but he kept it in its own quadrant of the platter so as not to infect any other perfectly fine fruit).

Rose returned as he was halfway finished with his coffee and with reading the morning paper.

“Thanks for breakfast,” she said, snagging a piece of pear from the plate and popping it into her mouth.

“Good thing we got the sex out of the way before you get pear-breath,” he said with an over-dramatic grimace.

“Oh shut it, you. Banana breath is just as bad,” she teased as he speared another piece of banana onto his fork.

“Bananas are good for you, Rose,” he said sagely.

“And so are pears,” she countered, popping another piece into her mouth.

He pulled a face and shuddered, and he grinned when she laughed. God, he loved making her laugh.

“I suppose you could have bigger flaws than liking the most atrocious fruit on the planet,” he said, scooting his chair closer to hers.

Rose beamed at him, and bent over to kiss him. The taste of pear was still on her tongue, but after having lived with Rose for four and a half years, he had gotten used to it, since it was one of her favorite fruits.

But he still pulled back and smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“No more kisses ‘til the pear taste is gone,” he decreed, making a show of sloshing around his pumpkin spice latte in his mouth to get rid of the flavor.

“You’re such a nutter,” she said fondly, taking a sip of her own coffee.

“But I’m your nutter,” he said, popping the last piece of banana into his mouth.

“My nutter indeed,” she said.

She leaned over to kiss him again, and this time they were heedless of the lingering fruit flavors in favor of taking pleasure from their lips and tongues moving together in a well-practiced dance.


	21. Memories With Sprinkles on Top

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James teaches his girls how to make homemade hot chocolate, which sparks an afternoon full of stories of the person who taught him to make hot chocolate from scratch--his mum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for @doctorroseprompts‘ 31 Days of Ficmas, for the prompt ‘hot chocolate’.
> 
> Outtake Rating: All Ages
> 
> This is set in the future, when Ainsley is 7 and Sianin is 4.

“I’m so bored,” Ainsley grumbled, moving her playing piece up three spaces, and up the ladder she encountered.

It was supposed to be a decent day. Cloudy and a little chilly, perhaps, but nothing a coat and hat wouldn’t fix. But when they awoke to pouring rain and temperatures colder than expected, James knew that the playdate at the park would be a no-go.

Rose had already had plans. She and a few friends had a day of manicures, pedicures, and shopping ahead of them. That left James home alone to try and entertain his girls, but it was difficult to find something that would appease a seven-year-old and a four-year-old.

James frowned at Ainsley. Today was supposed to be a fun day with Daddy, and yet all they’d done was play games that were simple enough for Sianin to understand.

When Ainsley slid her playing piece to the end of the game, winning for the third time out of five, James asked, “Right. As fun as this is, how would you girls like to learn how to make hot chocolate? Not the stuff from the little packets, but the real stuff?”

Ainsley’s eyes lit up, and even Sianin seemed agreeable to their next activity, so he marched his daughters into the kitchen and had them collect the ingredients he would need.

“Right, we need some cocoa powder, sugar, salt, vanilla, and some milk,” he said, grabbing a saucepan and setting it on the stove.

Under his careful supervision, he had them take turns measuring out the ingredients and adding them to the pot. He took charge of the stirring as the mixture heated.

“The trick is the milk,” he explained, turning down the heat to keep it from scalding. “Most hot chocolates use water. And that’s great and all—I mean, who’d say no to chocolate?—but the milk makes it creamy and richer. It was my mum, actually, who taught me this recipe. I think I was about your age, Ainsley. I hadn’t realized hot chocolate could be made any other way until a mate of mine came over and tried the hot chocolate and said it was the best thing she’d ever tasted.”

Ainsley and Sianin sat on the countertop as James reminisced. His mum always had a knack for cooking and baking, and James loved spending time in the kitchen with her. Namely so he could show off to Rose, when he eventually met her, and wow her with his cooking skills. But the quality time bonding with his mum had been nice, too.

“Right!” he said. “Who wants hot chocolate?”

“Me!”

“Mememememeeeee!”

James grinned at Sianin’s enthusiasm, and he opened up the cabinet for three mugs, and for the last ingredient.

“Peppermint!” he proclaimed, plopping a stick into each mug. “Aaaaand…”

He went into the fridge for whipped cream, and added a dollop to each of the mugs.

“Can I have sprinkles?” Sianin asked.

“Oh, sure, what’s one more sugar additive to this cavity in a mug?” He grabbed the sprinkles and decorated the cream of Sianin’s mug with color. “Want some, Ains?”

At her nod, he added some to hers, then shrugged and sprinkled some on top of his own hot chocolate.

“Perfect!” he said, and he guided the girls to the table. “Careful, loves, it’s going to be hot. Why don’t we just let it cool for a tick as we load up the dishwasher?”

After the expected whining, James got them to help him clean up the kitchen of the dishes in the sink, then they finally sat down with their drinks.

“Still hot!” Ainsley squeaked after taking a sip.

James grimaced, knowing the annoyance of scalding his mouth, and he stood up from the table and went to the freezer for ice cubes. He dropped them into both of his daughters’ drinks.

“That should help,” he said, sitting back down.

“Can you tell us a story about your Mummy?” Sianin asked, eating the melting whipped cream with her fingers as her drink cooled.

“Hmm? Oh. Sure. Yeah,” he said. “Ehm… Oh! Winter breaks. We always came home to Scotland for Christmas, and I always had terrible jetlag. I mean, my mum and dad must’ve had it too, but they always seemed to fare much better than me. Anyways, I would always sleep like the dead. Hardly woke up ‘til noon, some years. But they let me sleep, no matter what. I think they liked the silence, honestly. But when they head me getting up, they’d start breakfast preparations. Dad would make banana pancakes, Mum would make her special hot chocolate, and I always came downstairs to a hot breakfast and Christmas music. We’d all have a bit of an impromptu—a spur of the moment—singing contest, complete with mouths so full you could barely understand us. Then when the food was gone, we’d all get another cup of hot chocolate and we’d put on the first Christmas film of the year:  _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_. We’d all quote the whole thing as it played, and when it was done, we’d get bundled up and go out for our Christmas tree.”

“That sounds like our Tree Day!” Ainsley said. “Only we watch  _Rudolph_  as we decorate.”

James smiled. “When Mummy was growing up, she and her mum watched  _Rudolph_  as they decorated their home for Christmas. So Mum and I decided to sort of blend the traditions.”

“Tell us another?” Sianin asked, licking cream from her top lip, even though her chin and cheeks were smeared with it.

They sat at the table long after their hot chocolates were finished, listening as James told various stories about his mum, or his dad, or about growing up in the United States.

The girls were enraptured by stories of the grandmother they never knew. James’s heart ached that his daughters would never know his mum, but he settled in for the afternoon to give them the best replacement for memories—his stories.


	22. Christmas Photo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Rose (and Ainsley) go to get their annual Christmas photos done for the first time as a family of three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written for doctorroseprompts' 31 Days of Ficmas, for the prompt ‘candy canes’, and legendslikestardust's broad prompt of wintertime/holiday fic.
> 
> Outtake Rating: All Ages
> 
> This takes place during and Baby Makes Three, when Ainsley is just a few weeks old.

“Are we all ready to go?” James asked, adjusting his red and white striped tie.

Rose and Ainsley were waiting for him in the living room, with the former cradling the latter close to her breast as she nuzzled her nose into the baby’s wispy hair. His heart thudded warmly against his ribs at the sight they made, with Rose in a loose red dress, and Ainsley in a red, white, and green striped onesie.

“She looks like a little candy cane,” he said, stepping up to his family.

“Yes, well, ‘tis the season,” Rose said brightly. “Are you ready?”

“Yep!”

He donned his coat and slung Ainsley’s baby bag over his shoulder, before he took their daughter from Rose so she could get her coat.

They made the quick drive to Rose’s work, where they were going to get their annual Christmas photo done, and to introduce their daughter to Rose’s friends and colleagues.

James was nearly bursting with pride and joy as everybody fawned and cooed over the baby, and gushed over how wonderful Rose was looking. He had to agree. She was the most radiant he’d ever seen her. She seemed to exude warmth and light from every pore, and she had that giddy new-mum glow.

They eventually managed to get their daughter back, and they followed Rose’s closest work friend to the studio.

Rose kept Ainsley in her arms throughout most of the photos, and James kept his arms around Rose. They took a few shots with him standing beside her and his arm wrapped around her waist, and then a few with him standing behind her and his arms wrapped around her middle, cradling her arms as she held their baby. Those were his favorite poses. He loved holding his family in his arms like that.

Though unfortunately, that position put Ainsley directly in his line of sight, and more than once, he was scolded for not looking at the camera.

“Nothing says Merry Christmas like the top of your head,” Penny said dryly.

But James couldn’t bring himself to be sorry. How could he ever look away from his baby’s beautiful face?

Finally, they got all of the shots they wanted, and Rose passed Ainsley to James as she and Penny poured through the photographs to pick the ones they wanted printed.

“Hello, my darling,” he murmured as Ainsley awoke on the transfer. “Are you having a nice nap? I bet you are. It’s comfy and cozy and warm being tucked up in Mummy’s arms like that, isn’t it? You’ve been doing so well, Ainsley. So calm while Mummy and me got our Christmas photos done. You know, we didn’t expect you to be in them this year. Yep. You weren’t supposed to be here ‘til the seventeenth. Mummy was worried about how she would look in this year’s photo, with being so pregnant. But that’s ridiculous. Your mother is the most beautiful woman on this planet. No contest. Well. The only contest she has now is with you, because you’re the most beautiful child I’ve ever seen. I might be a tiny bit biased, but even still. You’re a gorgeous baby, yes you are. And do you know what else you are? Loved. You are so loved, my Ainsley. By me and Mummy, and by your gran and grandad, and by all the family you haven’t met yet, but will meet in just a few weeks. We’re doing Christmas at our house this year. So it might be louder and busier than you’re used to. But it’ll be okay. Mummy and I will be with you the whole time.”

Rose’s voice pulled him out of his rambling, one-sided conversation with his daughter.

“We’ve narrowed them down, but I want your help with the final decisions,” she said, holding her hand out for him to follow her.

James tried to have an opinion, but if he was being honest, he loved them all. Any photograph of him with the two people he loved most in the world was a perfect photograph.

After much deliberation, they finally decided on the photo that would go on their Christmas card. And just in time, too; Ainsley was beginning to get fussy.

They bade Rose’s friends and coworkers goodbye and went back home to continue the preparation and decoration for their first Christmas as a family of three.


	23. Bathing Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Rose share a quiet moment together in the tub.
> 
> This takes places after Perfect Match some time. They're married but don't have kids yet.

Steam wafted through from the en suite as James tugged at his tie. What a day. There had been a mandatory department seminar he’d had to attend that evening. The university was hiring a new chemistry professor, and he was on the interview panel, and while he usually didn’t mind chatting with prospective employees, he minded it a lot more when the candidate’s interview seminar fell on Valentine’s Day.

He and a few other faculty had tried to get it postponed, but the head of the department had been unwavering. “We’re on a schedule,” she’d said.

James had told Rose about the problem as soon as he’d learned about it, and she’d been so understanding, and told him they could go out for Valentine’s Day dinner that weekend instead.

But that still didn’t mean he didn’t feel like a rubbish husband. Hence the single rose he was hiding behind his back. Even though Rose didn’t mind, he did, and if a single measly flower was all he could do for her on Valentine’s Day, well then he was going to do it.

“I’m home,” he called softly as he stepped into the en suite, not wanting to startle Rose.

His lungs hitched when he saw her. Her hair was piled up in a messy bun on top of her head, and her cheeks were flushed a dull pink, and her face was totally relaxed and at peace. She was beautiful.

And she became even more beautiful when she smiled at him.

“Hey,” she said, sitting up slightly. The bubbles still concealed most of her chest, but he had enough reference material to know exactly how they looked, wet and glistening with bath water. “How’d the seminar go?”

“Fine,” he answered. “Their research seemed to overlap a little bit with some of the technology in my lab, so I guess I understand why they wanted me there.” He stepped up to the tub and knelt down beside her, taking his hands from behind his back to present her with the long-stemmed red rose. “Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.”

“You know you didn’t have to do this,” Rose said, accepting the flower carefully to bring it to her nose to smell.

“I wanted to,” he said simply. He absently dunked his fingers into the bath water and noted just how hot it still was. She must have just gotten into the tub. Knowing that, he then ventured to ask, “Mind if I join you in there for a little bit? Or would you prefer to finish your bath then have a cuddle on the couch?”

“Can’t we do both?” she asked with a grin. She set the rose on the floor next to him, then patted the bubbly surface.

James made quick work of shedding his clothes, not caring that they would get wrinkly, before he gestured for Rose to scoot forward.

He groaned as he lowered himself into the hot water. It had been a long day, and he was so glad to be home. Rose leaned back against him, and he sighed with utter contentment as he held his wife in his arms.

“I love you,” he whispered into her neck, pressing soft kisses to her skin. “So much, Rose.”

“Love you, too.”


	24. In Sickness and in Health

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose falls ill on her first Valentine's Day with James.
> 
> Outtake rating: Teen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This used to be it's own one-shot in the series, called 'In Sickness and in Health', but then I decided it didn't really belong as a one-shot, seeing as it's an outtake. So I've deleted the stand-alone version and am lumping it into the outtakes.

James was only half-awake when he rolled over onto his side to cuddle closer to his bedmate. He wriggled up behind Rose and nuzzled his nose into her neck as he molded his body around hers.

She shivered in his arms, but it didn’t feel like her regular shivers, the ones she usually let out when he kissed the sensitive patch of skin where her shoulder met her neck.

“M’cold,” Rose mumbled, scooting backwards to put more contact between their bodies.

James stifled a groan as her bum wiggled against his morning stiffie.

“Let me sleep another ten minutes and we can take care of that,” she promised, letting out a sigh as she relaxed back against him.

James glanced over at the clock. “Ehm, you’re actually running late, love. It’s quarter after.”

“Can’t be,” she said, lifting her head to verify the time.  _Bollocks…_  She had class in just forty-five minutes. But her entire body seemed to be aching with lethargy.

James tugged the duvet away from them, about to suggest they share a shower, and frowned when he saw her tighten into a ball as goosebumps prickled across her skin. His frown deepened when she only managed to push herself half-way into a sitting position before flopping back down again.

“Just a bit of vertigo,” she assured, rubbing her fingers into her eyes.

But James saw that her cheeks were flushed and her voice still hadn’t cleared of its morning rasp. He touched the backs of his fingers to her forehead and his brows pinched together when he felt the heat radiating off her skin.

“You’re burning up, love,” he said, brushing her hair away from her face as he tucked the duvet tight around her neck. “I think you might’ve caught something. You should stay home and sleep it off.”

“Hand me my phone?” she asked, hugging the blankets to her chest. “Gotta email my professors.”

“I’ve got it,” he said, reaching over her for her mobile. “I’ll take care of it. You just rest now.”

“’Kay.”

Once James emailed her professors, he glanced over at his phone. Should he stay home with Rose?

“You’re gonna be late,” she said, blinking up at him.

“It’s fine,” James said. “I can take the day.”

“No need. I’ll just be sleeping, I think. Very boring. Go on to the lab, James.”

James bit his lip. He really hated leaving Rose like this, but he also needed to get a few things done at work.

“Go,” Rose urged. “Besides, I don’t want to get you sick, too. Can’t miss our first Valentine’s day together.”

James sighed and eventually moved to crawl out of bed.

“It’s not me I’m worried about,” he said, tucking the blankets snugly around her shoulders.

“I’ll be fine,” Rose promised, her eyes fluttering shut. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

oOoOo

However, when Valentine’s Day rolled around three days later, Rose had only gotten worse. Not only was she still exhausted, she’d developed a double ear infection and a respiratory infection.

Rose sneezed into her wad of tissues and gingerly wiped her red, raw nose, chapped as it was from the tissue abuse it had endured. Of all the weeks for her to get sick…

Despite what she’d told James that morning, she wasn’t sure if she’d be actually well enough to go out to dinner with him that night. Her ears and nose were still clogged, and she could hardly go ten minutes without coughing up a lung.

She glanced at the clock and reluctantly sat up to reach for her dose of antibiotic and decongestant. After taking the pills and sipping at her water, she flopped back down on the couch and covered up with more blankets before falling asleep.

When James came home that afternoon and saw Rose asleep on the sofa and surrounded by tissues, he knew that their dinner plans would have to be put on hold.

Frustration coiled in his stomach—couldn’t anything go right for them this year?—but it was soon overrun by concern. It wasn’t as though Rose tried to be sick for their first Valentine’s Day. And she really looked and sounded poorly.

With a sigh, James pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the restaurant to cancel their reservation, while tentatively making another reservation for the following weekend, hoping Rose would be well enough then.

He then crept up the stairs and into their bedroom, where he changed into a pair of pajamas, prepared to spend the rest of Valentine’s Day as Rose’s pillow and space heater.

As he descended the stairs, he could hear the tail end of one of her coughing fits, and he winced at how awfully it sounded.

“Still not feeling any better?” he asked, crouching in front of her. Her eyes were glassy and her cheeks were still red.

“When did you get home?” she croaked, carefully dabbing a tissue around her nose.

“A few minutes ago,” he answered.

Rose reached down and pushed a button on her phone to check the time.

“Oh, blimey, I’ve got to get ready,” she said, pushing herself up. James’s heart clenched when he saw her swaying a little bit as she closed her eyes, overtaken by a dizzy spell.

“No need, love, you’re not well enough for dinner,” James said. “Lay back down and get some rest.”

“No, no, I’ll be fine,” she insisted. However, when she stood, she nearly tripped forward as her dizziness returned and she got tangled in her blankets.

James caught her around the waist and held onto her as she rested her forehead on his collarbone.

“Rose, you’re still very ill,” he said gently. “You’d be utterly miserable if we went out. You look utterly miserable  _now_ , and that’s even with you in your pjs in our home. I’ve cancelled the reservation. We can try again later when you’re better.”

Rose sighed into his chest but nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, love,” he said, giving her waist a little squeeze. “Nothing you could’ve done to prevent this.”

“I was really looking forward to dinner,” she mumbled. “You were so excited about it, and now I’ve ruined our first Valentine’s Day together!”

James carefully sat down on the sofa with her and pulled her blankets off the floor to at least cover her lap.

“If I’m not allowed to take the blame for ruining anything in our relationship, then neither are you,” he said firmly. “Remember what you’re always telling me?”

“Memory’s a bit fuzzy right now,” she mumbled, leaning against him and tucking her head into his neck. “Try again later.”

James chuckled and pressed his lips to her sizzling forehead. “I guess I can take it easy on you today. Just this once, mind.”

“How generous of you,” she said dryly.

“Anyways, you’re always telling me that even if our plans don’t go as we’d hoped, they’re still perfect because we’re together,” he said. “Same applies to this. I never envisioned my first Valentine’s Day with you would involve so much mucus—” Rose smacked his chest lightly even as she tugged her blankets around her shoulders and nuzzled closer. “—But nevertheless, we’re together, and that’s all that matters, yeah? Being able to spend time with you, Rose Tyler, is the best way to spend any day.”

“Flatterer,” she whispered.

“Always.” He kissed the top of her head. “Get some more sleep, love.”

“Actually… since you claim to like spending time with me, even in my mucous-y state, care to help a soulmate to the loo?”

James chuckled and stood up before pulling her to her feet and guiding her to the bathroom.

Once he’d settled Rose back on the sofa with more water and blankets, he trekked to the kitchen and started on dinner. He called for Chinese for himself while he reheated the vat of chicken soup he’d made for her the day before.

“Bon appétit, ma chère,” James said affecting an awful French accent as he cradled a steaming bowl of soup in a towel.

Rose smiled up at him and readjusted herself before taking the bowl from him.

“Aren’t you gonna eat?” she asked, frowning at him.

“I am,” he promised. “I ordered takeaway.” Serendipitously, the doorbell rang at that moment. “Aaaand I’ll bet that’s it. Go on. Pick us out something to watch.”

Several minute later, they were both slurping on their respective meals and continuing their marathon of  _The X-Files_. More than once, James caught Rose side-eyeing his lo mein, and he casually scooped out a few of the noodles and half an egg roll into her empty soup bowl.

“You’re the best,” Rose said with a grin.

“Don’t you forget it,” he teased, pressing a kiss to her temple.

After they finished eating, James set his empty dinner box and Rose’s bowl onto the coffee table before he scooted closer to her and wrapped himself around her.

“No, I don’t want to get you sick!” Rose protested.

James snorted into her hair. “Honestly, it’ll be a miracle if you haven’t infected me yet. But you’re cold, and I want a cuddle. Two birds, one stone, et cetera. C’mere.”

Rose sighed and relaxed into James’s embrace, nestling her cheek into his chest.

“If you get sick, don’t come crying to me,” she murmured, feeling full and warm and sleepy.

“No promises. But I’m sure you’ll take such good care of me.”

“I’ll share my leftover soup,” she allowed.

“Feel the love,” James pouted.

“Maaaaybe I’ll make you your own,” Rose teased. “If you ask nicely. And if you’re really, truly ill. And I mean  _ill._  Like, ear-exploding, lung-coughing, goopy-eyeballs ill.”

James grimaced. “No, ta. Let’s just cross our fingers that I stay completely healthy, yeah?”

And miraculously, James did manage to avoid catching whatever plague Rose had come down with. 

Finally, nine days after Valentine’s Day, they were both ready to resume their romantic holidays plans.

“You are the most stunningly beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” James murmured appreciatively as he stepped up behind her, looking her over through the full-length mirror.

She was wearing the new black dress that had appeared in their closet three weekends ago when she’d gone shopping for their Valentine’s Day date, and it looked as sexy as James thought it would when he first saw it hanging on the rack. The skirt fluttered around her knees and the three-quarter-length sleeves would hopefully offer her some protection from the February chill, even if the plunging neckline wouldn’t.

“You look quite dashing too,” Rose complimented with a grin. “I like the new suit.”

“Yeah, I’ve been looking for an excuse to break this one in,” he said, taking a look down at his blue pinstripes. “It looks okay, doesn’t it?”

“You look great, James,” she promised. “Pinstripes really suit you. And… if you want, I have something for you to help finish off the new look.”

James removed his hands from her hips to let her skip towards her chifforobe and grab a long, skinny box.

“Oh, you didn’t have to get me anything!” he protested.

“I wanted to,” Rose said simply, handing him the box. “Happy Valentine’s Day redo.”

James grinned as he lifted off the lid to the box to reveal a new tie. It was made of navy silk with burgundy roses twining around the fabric in thin vines.

“Oh, this is perfect!” James said, already undoing the tie around his neck.

“Yeah?” she asked happily.

“Oh, yes!” he crowed, dropping his old tie and the box to the floor as he swiftly knotted up his new tie. “What do you think?”

Rose smiled softly at her soulmate before she stretched up to press a kiss to his cheek.

“Handsome, as always,” she proclaimed. “Right, are we almost ready to go?”

“Well, you’re still missing a piece,” James said, tracing his fingertips around her collarbone. “Found a necklace yet?

Rose’s breath hitched, recognizing his failed attempt at nonchalance. “Not yet. Have any suggestions?”

“Well, you’re in luck. How about this?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a square black box. He flicked it open with his thumbs, and Rose gasped when she saw the necklace within. A rectangularly-cut opal sat as the center piece and diamonds framed the perimeter of the gem, and Rose could see a thin silver chain disappearing behind slats in the velvet cushion.

“Oh, James, this is beautiful!” she whispered, carefully touching her index finger to the opal. It was even smoother than it looked.

“You like it?” he asked hopefully.

“I love it! Put it on me?”

Rose spun around as James carefully lifted the necklace out of the box and draped the chain around her neck. He clasped it and let it come to rest against the bare skin of her chest.

“Diamonds for your birthstone,” he murmured, adjusting the pendant so it hung just right. “And opal for mine. Happy Valentine’s Day redo, Rose.”

“This is perfect,” Rose murmured, turning in his arms to press a kiss to his lips.

James sighed against her mouth and automatically opened for her. Her illness had put the brakes on their intimacy, and James’s belly flipped over in desire and anticipation as he could finally kiss her with intent.

But far too soon, Rose eased them out of the kiss.

“We’re going to miss our reservation,” she said when she saw his pout of displeasure.

James sighed. As much as he wanted to stay here and continue snogging Rose, he really was looking forward to dinner with her.

“After?” he asked hopefully.

“Definitely,” she purred, trailing her fingertips down his new tie.

“Well then, Rose Tyler...”

Rose shuddered at the huskiness in his voice as he said her name. James took her hand and pressed a long kiss to the backs of her fingers before he murmured, “Dinner awaits.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This used to be it's own one-shot in the series, called 'In Sickness and in Health', but then I decided it didn't really belong as a one-shot, seeing as it's an outtake. So I've deleted the stand-alone version and am lumping it into the outtakes.


End file.
